


Gravedigger

by seriousam



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Action, F/F, Future, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2016-02-09
Packaged: 2018-05-07 23:03:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 37,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5473793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seriousam/pseuds/seriousam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Republic City is a place of hopes and dreams, of skyscrapers and flying cars, of wealth and beauty. Asami Sato has both of those in spades and Republic City is her playground - that is, until she meets Korra. Korra's hiding something, secrets that Asami is determined to wrench out of her. Unfortunately, Asami soon has other, more pressing priorities, priorities that could mean life or death for them both.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters! They belong to the wonderful Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino.
> 
> Dear everybody, I'm trying something new this time and writing a Choose your own adventure story. Do check out my blog at infinitejukebox.wordpress.com/ !

_NOW._

The Satomobile tore out of the city, accelerating along the highway and weaving past traffic. Tall skyscrapers bordered the road on both sides. A much more crowded highway snaked below. The pedestrian walkways were even lower, all the way down on the ground. The car took a sharp corner, its levitated suspension controlling the lift and tilt as it soundlessly turned and zoomed off. The Satomobile was headed for the Blackstone Bridge, leaving the city lights far behind. In the distance, was the old town, Republic City’s number one tourist destination and its massive spirit portal.

Rain and hail pelted hard against the windshield, tapping furiously on the window glass. The furious water gushed against the low-sitting bridge, waves smashing against the side. The tide seemed unusually high tonight. The gale was gusting around the magnetic rails, making it just a little difficult to keep control of the car. The Satomobile kept going, the engine emitting a low whine. Another sleek black car appeared in the rear view mirror, driving neither as recklessly nor as skilfully as its target. 

“YOU SUCK!” Asami was pissed, but she’d been brought up not to be vulgar. She had been a little surprised. She would have thought she would be miserable or resigned. Instead, all she had was anger. She’d obviously surprised her pursuer too.

Asami changed gears. The car raced over the edge of the bridge. Away from the shelter of the buildings, she could feel the full effect of the wind and rain. It was deserted. Nearly everybody was at home watching the festivities for Avatar Day, or hiding from the weather. It was a pity that tonight’s fireworks were cancelled. With the horrible weather and the death threats, it was just not the time to celebrate. For her, though, an empty bridge was perfect.

Asami floored the accelerator. Okay, so she was actually fuming mad. What she deserved was revenge. Nobody plays Asami Sato.

The engine roared as her car hit top speed, zooming over the bridge. Her headlights scoured the rails in front of her, the computer marking out the proposed route to take. Oh, the wonders of modern technology. With just half of the car’s battery life, she would be able to make it to the next city. She could hear the wind howling even through the reinforced glass. She didn’t believe it was possible, but the wind had grown even stronger, challenging her car’s impressive stabilizers. Asami gripped the wheel tightly and glanced at the heavy storm clouds gathering over the bay, visibly grey and angry in the bright moonlight. Republic City had never seen a hurricane, but this felt pretty damn close. In the distance, she could see the other Satomobile still doggedly following her, but dropping further every minute. Amazingly, her pursuer had followed her onto the bridge. The foolish following the fool, she thought.

Her car was shaking. Asami scanned quickly through the numbers on the electronic screen. Everything was working fine. If it wasn’t her, then it had to be the bridge. The bridge was actually swaying and the car followed its motion faithfully. Asami’s stomach turned. Keep going or turn back? It was about the same distance either way now that she was in the middle of the bridge. She had wanted to get as far away from the mess as possible, but Asami was currently regretting her decision. It would be lovely to be home right now, toasty and warm, with her arms wrapped around – Asami pushed the thought away. There was no home, she thought melodramatically. Not with that bitch around.

Lightning struck one of the supports with a loud zap, following by a whip-sharp crack of thunder. The wind was threatening to wrench wheel from her fingers. There was a loud shearing sound and an alarming snap. Asami looked up fearfully. The suspension cables snapped, one by one like taut piano strings. The road in front of her began to crack and crumble. The rails twisted and fell. There was a screeching scratch and a crack as one cable whipped into the roof of her car. Asami braked hard, smashing her forehead into the wheel. It wasn’t enough. The car slid soundlessly to the edge and, almost in slow-motion, tipped over into the void.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_1 YEAR AND 2 MONTHS AGO_

Asami pushed her way to her seat. The millionaire’s club was nowhere as crowded as any of the other places in the city, but it was getting more and more packed. This used to be where she went for some down time, but if this was the situation, she might as well stay at home. She sank down at her private booth, guarded by one very solid-looking man.

One bottle of wine and one cocktail for herself. “Here, you can have this.” She handed over an ice-cold bottle of beer to the man.

“I can’t drink on the job,” the man said apologetically.

“Who says?”

“Your father, Miss Sato.”

“Well, I’m changing the rules. Have a seat, have a drink.” The tall man glanced down. He grudgingly took the drink, but remained standing.

Asami shrugged. “Suit yourself.” She uncorked the first bottle of wine. Everyone else looked like they were having fun with their friends. She pursed her lips. She had friends too. More like two friends, to be exact, and the both of them were busy tonight. Instead, a woman sat opposite her. Asami filled both their glasses with the maroon-coloured liquid.

“So shall we start?”

The woman nodded briskly. “I’m looking for weapons. High-powered blasters, sound grenades. Small arms. Easily transportable.” Easily hidden. “High quality.” They need to kill a lot of people. “And untraceable.”

Asami grinned. This was right up their alley. “That will command an additional fee.”

“Of course,” the woman said.

There was a low shout, barely audible over the music. A row was breaking out at the fringes of the mass of people on the dance floor. Asami frowned and shook her head. The standard had really fallen. The bouncers were marching over, trying to politely make their way to the fight through the ranks of rich and overly-sensitive clientele. As far as she could tell, there were three people crowding around a much shorter figure. Punches were thrown, sharp kicks given. One beefy man was kneed in the stomach and toppled over. The other caught the shorter girl by the front of her dress and easily lifted the struggling figure off the floor. Enhanced neohumans were no joke. The victim was a woman. The neohuman swung his huge arm and flung her to the side. The woman soared into the air and tumbled to the floor at Iroh’s feet. She groggily clambered to her feet. It was incredible that she was still conscious.

The woman was from the Southern Water Tribe, judging by her features. Her skin was tan and her eyes blue, complementing the dark blue dress she had on. She was young, about Asami’s age. Briefly, she met Asami’s roving gaze, then she spun to meet the charging neohuman. She lithely dodged the first blow, and returned with a sharp punch to the man’s chin. From the back she could see the woman’s lean figure illuminated by the strobe lights.

Asami frowned, and then smiled. Her interest had been piqued. The view was delicious, but it was time to stop the fight. She was, after all, on official business.

“Excuse me,” she said politely and stood up. “Hey you!” The neohuman paused and looked at the slim and unimposing figure. “Get out.”

The man and the woman behind him sneered. With a sigh, Asami gestured with a finger. “Iroh, get them out.”

The man hunched his shoulders and raised his fists in full defensive position. The bodyguard stared down at them with disdain. With one swift motion, he pulled his gun out. Two blasts. They collapsed instantly, the sound reverberating around the club. Her father’s mantra: never get your hands dirty if you could help it. The music ceased, and those who hadn’t been staring now craned their necks to watch. Iroh nudged them with his foot.

“That’ll do.” The bouncers had finally arrived at the scene and without meeting her eyes, they bend to inspect the bodies on the floor.

“What…?” The girl turned and gaped.

“Stun gun. Relax,” Asami said. “The bouncers will throw them out. Your name?”

“Korra,” the young woman replied uncertainly. “I’m Korra.”

“Nice to meet you, Korra, very nice,” she smiled and winked, taking one step closer. The woman blushed and opened her mouth to answer, but Asami was already past her and facing the crowd.  “I am Asami Sato. Bother this girl and you’re dead.”

She was a billionaire and a Sato, a shark in a room full of salmon. There was a hushed silence until Asami gestured for the DJ to turn the music up again. The mood relaxed as the beat came back on. She slid back into the booth and slipped a piece of paper across the table. “Look for this contact. He’s one of my guys. He’ll handle your requests and keep everything discreet, for obvious reasons. We have the top-of-the-line of what you need and a ready supply for you. But we need to talk numbers, of course. Quantity and price.”

“I can trust your discretion, of course?”

“Obviously.” She stood up and politely waited for the woman to take her leave. “You know what,” Asami said as she watched the woman’s retreating back. “I’m feeling a little hungry.”

“What would you like to eat, Miss Sato?” Iroh was paying attention as usual, the unopened beer bottle still in his hand.

“Sashimi. Sashimi sounds good right now.”

“There are a few restaurants around here. Should I call ahead for a table?” Iroh scrolled through a list.

She nodded. “Tell them I need a table for two, somewhere private.” She picked up her clutch and smiled charmingly, her eyes zeroing in on a single figure on the dance floor. “Just give me a moment to get my date.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have...absolutely no idea where I'm going with this. Just wrote it for fun, might or might not continue the fic. I feel like I've written too much Good Girl-Badass Asami, so it's nice to write a more snobbish and controlling version of her. As usual, comments are most welcomed!


	2. Chapter 2

_1 YEAR AND 1 MONTH AGO_

“Going out again?” Hiroshi Sato remarked as Asami entered his office in a red blouse and jacket coupled with a nice black skirt and full make-up on. She nodded and placed a flat device on his table.  On it were several numbers and diagrams. Hiroshi scanned quickly through the document.

“I just finished the contract for the new client, Tekki. I’ve arranged for the manufacturing, the supplies and the delivery. It’ll all be ready to go once she signs the contract and hands over the payment.”

“And the tracers on the blasters?” Asami took a piece of paper from her pocket. Digital data was too easily stolen and traced. Paper was the choice medium when doing anything borderline illegal. There a million and one ways to rid of a piece of paper.

“The government-mandated chips have been deactivated. But the Future Industries ones remain active. The downside is that we can only hand over the goods in small shipments, or it will be too suspicious to the authorities.”

“Very good,” Hiroshi said. “You’ve caught on very quickly,” he commented with pride.

“Don’t I always,” Asami answered. “Tekki, and whoever she represents, has demanded for a very, very large supply of arms. Should I be concerned?”

“She’s supplying the mercenary troops fighting against the Earth Empire.” Another one of the states had revolted, and the fight against the incumbent government had started in earnest with a third of the country up in arms. All that meant good business for Future Industries. Hiroshi tapped the desk. “But what’s important is the profit. With that money, we can begin investing in other research and other businesses.”

“Like the neohumans.”

“Our neohuman research, for example, needs a boost,” her father reiterated. That had always been his pet project. Future Industries manufactured cars, weapons, computers and a whole host of other things, but human enhancement and supplementation was his favourite. They were the third biggest provider of neohuman tech in the world, which in Hiroshi’s book, wasn’t good enough. “But never mind me. Who are you going out with?”

“Somebody.”

“It’s Korra, isn’t it?”

Asami frowned. “You’ve been running checks on her,” she accused.

Hiroshi dipped his head and pulled out a data drive from a desk drawer. Like the over-protective father he was, he had his people tracking and checking her the moment he caught wind of her latest infatuation. Why couldn’t Asami just date one of those nice girls and boys he introduced to her?

He must have said as much out loud, because Asami laughed. “The answer’s in the question. I certainly do not want you involved in my matters.” Her father had all the best intentions, but Asami knew he disapproved of her activities. He himself was a one-woman kind of man, even if that woman had long since passed away. Asami, on the other hand, had a reputation.

Hiroshi huffed and waved her away. “Just go, I’m a very busy man. Have fun!” He called as she shut the door gently behind her.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Korra was waiting for her on her doorstep. Asami pulled up skilfully in her flashy top-of-the-line red Satomobile.

“You could have stayed inside, you know,” Asami said as she charted a course for the bay. “For you, I could bear to wait in the car for a minute or two.”

“Smooth,” Korra replied with a smile, reaching for the seatbelt. “Besides, it’s more polite this way.” She’d initially considered Korra as something more of a temporary arrangement for her carnal needs. She dropped hints the entire dinner. Korra had gotten them too; Asami could tell by the way she arched her eyebrows and blushed. The date went quite well -- until Korra said, goodbye, it was nice meeting you and zoomed off, leaving Asami high and dry.

That sealed her interest. There’s nothing Asami liked more than The Chase.

Other than that, Korra had some very old-fashioned, though endearing habits. Such as looking for the seatbelt when clearly there was no more need for them, or listening to the radio. In fact, Korra was only person she knew with a radio. That shouldn’t be too surprising, Asami thought as she beat the red light, rich people had their obsessions. After all, she was the only one in the entire city with a manual transmission car.  

She turned into the entrance of Avatar Park. “Parking lot’s that way,” Korra said.

“That’s not where we’re going.” A park vehicle with its orange flashing lights came to greet them. The electric barriers lowered and Asami was allowed off-rails and into the park. She locked the system onto the car in front and her Satomobile followed meekly behind the rusty park vehicle. Asami turned on the blackout windows as they drove slowly past the staring onlookers in the park. It was a weekend, so the park was relatively crowded.

“When I said it would be nice to go to the park, this wasn’t quite what I had imagined,” Korra remarked.

“You have lousy imagination then,” Asami replied. There were children tumbling in the grassy field by the side, levitating small pebbles. Every other person could bend, but nobody bothered with it anymore. Their tech had simply far surpassed the limits of bending. The Benders, on the other hand, were something else.

They rounded a corner into past a set of narrow gates and into a small secluded grove. It had a pavilion and a beautiful man-made pond. Asami parked her car and the park attendants tipped their hats as they drove off.

“You booked this whole place for lunch?” Korra asked, disbelievingly.

Asami shrugged. “Spare change.  Lunch is over here.” Asami unpacked the hamper waiting in the pavilion.

“Did you make this?” Korra asked, inspecting the dip and the loaf of bread.

“I packed it,” Asami replied with a dismissive wave. “Close enough.”

“It looks delicious,” Korra said warmly. “Thank you.” Korra was by far the most down-to-earth  and laidback person she had ever dated. Asami didn’t know why she found that attractive. Logically, she should prefer the easy-to-impress type who’d want to bask in her attention, someone who would fawn over her. The curse of being a Sato, Asami reasoned, was that she relished a challenge too much.

The conversation was easy. Asami had few but very passionate interests, and Korra seemed quite willing to indulge in those topics. “And so I decided to change out the suspension, using these new gyroscopes for better control off -rails—”

“You know, if you fitted in an anti-grav unit, like a smaller version of the ones they put in planes, you’d get much better off-rails performance. The problem with your car is the suspension. The engine is just under too much stress. Anti-grav units won’t require much to lift the car.”

Asami recovered quickly. “Anti-grav? Those are very hard to find. And very expensive,” she said lamely as she grappled for reasons as to why this idea didn’t cross her mind.

“Why,” Korra asked with mock concern. “Is money an issue?” Korra grinned.

“Touche.” Asami smiled back. This felt nice.

“What do you think of the Benders?” Korra asked, abruptly.

“They’re mostly a lot of noise and not much substance,” Asami replied. “Don’t most of them live in the old town? They worship the Avatar, the one from the myth? Legend has it that the Avatar is a human with all the force of nature. He can bend the four elements and had, what, twenty-one concubines?”

Korra choked. “Do you believe it?”

“No,” Asami said. “What do I look like, a Bender?” Korra kept chewing on her bread, and when they were done, Asami stretched out her hand. “Walk with me?”

There was nowhere for them to go except around the pond. Korra seemed to be deep in thought as they strolled leisurely around its circumference, occasionally bumping arms. She took Korra’s hand and the shorter girl didn’t resist.  

“Why me?” Korra blurted suddenly.

“Hm?”

“You have your share of admirers. Why me?” Korra asked.

“I don’t know,” Asami answered honestly. “You seem…different. Chill, you know. You’re actually nice. You’re not snobbish or arrogant, both of which I can admit I am.” She glanced at Korra sideways. “I think I'm a better person with you around, which is more that I can ask for from most of Republic City's population. With you, it’s not all about business, or money, or impressing you with my Satomobile.” She tried to grin to regain her illusion of charm. She hadn't expected to be  _that_ honest. A simple 'you're hot' would have sufficed. That would have been true too, though not complete. Something about Korra just made Asami want to trust her. "Which, by the way, is custom-built and hand-crafted."

“Well. I have seen far more impressive things,” Korra said off-handedly.

“Like what?” Asami demanded. Korra shrugged. “Then, why go out with me?”

“I like that you’re smart, you’re driven. You know what you want to achieve, and you go out and do it. You remind me of someone I once knew. Similar, but different.”

“A lover?” Asami felt some jealousy gnawing in her stomach, an absolutely foreign feeling to her.

“No, a close friend,” Korra replied. “I swear," she said, seeing the look on Asami's face. They continued their walk around the pond. Halfway through, Korra stopped walking and took her other hand. 

“Asami?” She seemed nervous, almost afraid.

“Hmm?” Korra stared at her for a long moment, before she took a deep breath, releasing it in a sigh. 

“Let’s do something fun.”

“Yeah?”

“Something spontaneous.”

Asami raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Sure—“ Korra grabbed her and jumped into the water. The cold water enveloped Asami and she emerged spluttering, hair in a mess.

“KORRA!”

She wiped the water from her face and was rewarded by another wave of water to the face.

“I surrender I surrender!” Korra smiled at her impishly and laughed. Asami reflected that in eight dates, she had never heard Korra laugh until today. The sound was amazing. She would do anything to hear it again. The woman swam closer, her ocean-blue eyes sparkling. This Korra was so different from the one she had known so far. A good kind of different. Korra suddenly seemed more alive. Asami backed up until her shoes brushed the rocky floor. Her shoes, right.

“Expensive shoes, Korra.”

“I’ll buy you another pair.” Korra kept moving until she had Asami sandwiched between the hard stone of the steep bank and her warm, soft body. Oh, okay. Korra was clearly genetically blessed. Either that or plastic surgery.

“My phone is ruined.”

“No, it’s not. It’s waterproof. I checked.” Korra nuzzled her jaw. “Shh.”

“Iroh is probably in the trees watching us,” Asami managed to say.

“Can’t see us from where he is,” Korra replied breathlessly. Her eyes were blue and bright, her lips curved into a smile. The way Korra stared at her almost made her blush.

“You’re trying very hard to impress me with your toys,” Korra whispered into her ear. “But that’s not what I’m about. It’s about the small things. Feel the water around you, the stone behind your back. You techies always forget these things exist. Besides, you don’t need to impress me. This isn't a one-way street. They say that opposites attract.” Korra place kisses along her jaw and she forgot how to breathe. “Well, I’m _very_ attracted, Asami Sato.” She peppered kisses on the corner of Asami’s lips.

“Also,” she said and drew back. Asami shivered under her undivided attention. “You’re beautiful,” Korra said with and easy grin. She kissed Asami firmly, hot and hard. She was much better than Asami had imagined. It took her only a split second to respond, and another to melt into a blissful puddle. Asami was hooked.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Iroh sighed and lowered his binoculars. His charge had disappeared out of sight, and judging from that obscene moan, was not in immediate mortal danger. Iroh ground his teeth and massaged his brow. The charge, he reminded himself. Asami was his charge. His phone beeped.

“Yes?”

“Sir? This is Mo’s Wine Delivery Service for one Ms. Sato. We were told to prep it as a, I quote ‘backup’, and call this number at exactly 2pm. Will she still be requiring the two bottles of red and the bouquet of roses?”

“No,” Iroh replied with a sigh. He was a bodyguard, not a secretary, and definitely not anything more, he thought with a pang. Why did she insist on routing the calls to him? “I think the afternoon is going exactly the way she wants it to.” He hung up and sat with his back against the tree and his arms on his high-powered laser sniper rifle. Another softer moan drifted from the water. It was going to be a long and painful day for him.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The day had been a success, Asami thought as she softly tread out of her bedroom. She was still giddy from the kiss. It was dark. Everyone else had gone to bed. Quietly, she stepped down the hall and used her key to unlock the study. Like the Sato Mansion only looked old and vintage. It was a façade that hid some of the latest security technology developed by Future Industries. Fortunately for her, Asami had never had problems hacking her own systems. She’d put a backdoor in most of their tech for her own convenience and control.

She rifled through the desk drawers until she found a data drive. Asami attached it to the personal digital assistant device on her wrist, bypassing the encryption and downloading the file. When that was done, she returned the drive to its original position and slipped out of the room.

Curiosity was a good thing, she reminded herself. She just wanted to know more.

Back in the safety of her own room, she opened the file. Born and bred in Republic City, Korra graduated top of her class in psychology. She started her own construction company and made it big. No parents, no relatives, no siblings, very few friends. She liked hanging out around the parks and in the old town. Her driver registration number and address were also listed in the file. She was a year younger than Asami.

The file even listed her weight and height, bust-waist-hips figures, shoe size, and other identifiable physical attributes. It also listed Korra as a water bender. Asami raised her eyebrows. Okay, that was one tidbit she hadn’t known, but nothing she couldn’t handle. She saved and locked the file for further analysis in her spare time.

Out of habit, she opened her list of contacts and scrolled through it. Asami paused, and then turned the device off. Not tonight. She sank back against her pillow, recalling the feeling of Korra’s lips. Just let that feeling linger, if just a little longer.


	3. Chapter 3

_1 YEAR AGO_

With a sharp crack, the fireworks swirled into the sky, leaving a trail of light and colour behind it as it painted a picture in the sky, before it eventually exploded in a shower of sparks. Another one zoomed into the sky, producing blue flashing lights backed against the emerald-green southern lights. Asami stood by the rails, watching the fireworks in the sky. Korra entered the terrace behind her.

“Sorry I’m late, I got held up.”

“It’s fine,” Asami assured her. “It’s a Monday and the first day of the month. Things can get hectic I guess.”

Korra gave her a quick peck on the cheek. “This is for you,” she whispered as she revealed a bouquet of red roses from behind her back.

“Very old fashioned,” Asami commented, sniffing the flowers. “But very pretty. Thank you.”

“Not as pretty as you are,” Korra grinned and pulled a bottle of red wine from her shoulder bag, along with two glasses. “And this is for us. Only the best for you.”

“What’s the occasion?” Asami asked.

“Nothing. I like surprising you, that’s all,” she pulled Asami in for a deep kiss before releasing her. “And I’ve got to keep on top of the competition.”

“Competition?”

“You do know you have a reputation right?” Korra asked. “That’s how this dating thing works nowadays, isn’t it? Keeping your options open until a formal commitment is made?”

“And you’ve been keeping your options…open?” Asami tried to sound nonchalant.

“No,” Korra replied, looking her straight in the eyes. “You’re my only option.”

That was sufficient to render Asami speechless. Korra smiled and leaned her head against Asami’s shoulder. “The southern lights are so mesmerizing,” Asami sighed after she regained her power of speech. “And the tech to get that up there is pretty impressive too.”

“It is,” Korra chuckled. “The myth of the Avatar.”

One of the legends of the Avatar had him rushing to spirit portal at the South Pole to stop the evil blood-bender Unalaq, who had murdered his entire village and was intent on destroying the world. It ended with Unalaq turning into a spirit energy-breathing flying dragon. Asami snorted. It definitely had to be some sort of joke.

“The view from up here is wonderful,” Korra said. “I don’t think I’ve ever been up here on this tower.” She looked down. “You’re lucky I don’t have a fear of heights.” They were on the top floor of the Future Industries Tower. It was extremely quiet and peaceful. All the noises of the city were muffled from this height.

“This is the tallest building in the entire city,” Asami remarked. “Future Industries has always had the tallest structure in Republic City.”

“I thought the Varrick Inc. Tower used to the tallest until this century,” Korra said, frowning.

“Impressive,” Asami said. “And both of us are right. Varrick Inc. rebranded itself as Future Industries when its founder died. He died about, two hundred and fifty years ago?”

“Wait wait,” Korra held up her hands. “Are you telling me that _you’re_ related to Varrick?” She asked incredulously.

Asami shrugged. “Is that a problem?”

“No, no,” Korra said hastily. “Not at all. He was just, extremely important in Republic City. He built almost half the city after it was destroyed in the War with the Earth Kingdom. I’m in construction, and he’s kind of a superstar in my field,” she added. “It’s like finding out that I’m related to the Chief of the Water Tribe or something.”

They watched as the fireworks display reached its finale with the fall of Unalaq as his minions deserted him and the triumphant Avatar killed him with a single stroke of his sword. Her eyes swept to observe Korra’s profile, staring in wonderment at the fireworks display.

It was hard to put the finger on exactly what it was about Korra that kept her attention. The fact that she seemed unaffected by Asami’s wealth was a huge plus. But perhaps the single largest factor was her confidence and her security, her sureness of who and where she was. Asami, and almost everyone around her, lived in an unpredictable world of technology and business, and Future Industries toed the legal line. No risk, no reward, her father used to say. The feeling of security was very, very hard to come by. 

“Well,” said Asami as she tossed her hair back. “That was very nice. But I have something else to say.” She’d considered a long speech but thought better of it. Korra might be patient, but she was not. She could hardly wait to ask the question. “Will you be my girlfriend?” Asami congratulated herself for getting straight to the point.

An inscrutable expression crossed Korra’s face for only a split second, before it changed into a frown. “And your other girls? And guys?”

Asami exhaled loudly. “Haven’t seen any for the past two months since I met you. I’m serious about this.”

Korra smiled. “So am I. I say yes.” She pulled Asami close and kissed her on the lips with fervour.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There was some serious discussion going on. An announcement, a lull, then a sudden burst of activity. It wasn’t hard to guess what just transpired. Up on the opposite rooftop, Iroh quietly kept watch, trying to stay vigilant while averting his eyes for their privacy.  It helped that all mics were on mute. He knew she knew he was there and that his gaze was most definitely pointed in her direction, but she was probably way too used to it to care. After all, he’d been shadowing her for the last five years, ever since he graduated from the academy. Hiroshi had thought that assigning her a bodyguard would make her tone it down. But Asami met him once, took stock of his character and his virtues and told her father to ‘try her’. And so Iroh was stuck averting his eyes from every escapade conceivable to the young woman.   

And she trusted him to do that too. She trusted him not to give away secrets, gossip, locations and her life. He’d even acted as a wingman for her once. Goddamn her trust, Iroh thought. He was paid lavishly for the round-the-clock job and given everything he asked for to keep track of the heiress. The only problem was that he was a hot-blooded young man in constant interaction with one of the most eligible women in Republic City. He didn’t know if Asami knew, or at least suspected, but his professionalism and sense of duty had so far managed to help him hide the fact and kept him in check.

Asami had not visited any of her favourite ‘friends’ for the past five weeks. Iroh was used to her trying to flirt and charm her way into someone’s pants – his included—but the way she acted and talked to Korra was different. He could tell just by looking at her body language. She seemed somehow drawn to the quiet water bender. Asami wasn’t entirely acting, Iroh thought. This was real, whether or not Asami herself had realised it.

This business with Korra was pretty serious, and Iroh didn’t know if he could stomach watching her fall in love with someone else.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_11 MONTHS and 2 WEEKS AGO_

“Dad? You called?” Asami pushed gently and the wooden door swung open on its mechanized hinges. Hiroshi Sato was seated at his table, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Take a seat.”

Asami slowly sank down on the cushy chair opposite him. It immediately warped to support her posture. “Am I in trouble?”

“There’s a long list of things I wanted to talk to you about. You’re no longer a child, Asami. You’ve got to focus on your life, on your work.”

“I know.”

Hiroshi lifted chin. “Baby girl, I just want what’s best for you. And I want you to settle down.”

“I am settling down,” Asami said. “Just ask Iroh.”

“That’s the first thing.  What did you do to Iroh?”

“Iroh? Nothing!” Asami replied.

“He sent in his resignation this morning.”

“Oh.” Asami focused on the desk top and twiddled her thumbs.

“It’s not entirely clear why. Do you know?” Asami shook her head.

Hiroshi pressed a button and the flipside of the monitor came to life. It was Iroh’s report, next to his letter of resignation. “Iroh cited personal reasons for his resignation. He has recommended that you no longer require 24/7 supervision since, and I quote, ‘with this current state of affairs it would be both intrusive and non-conducive for the principal’. What happened?” He looked at her sharply. “You’re not pregnant, are you?”

Asami coughed. “No. I’m in a committed relationship.”

“Okay,” Hiroshi sighed with relief. “Not quite an engagement, but much better than any of the other nonsense.” He turned Asami’s screen off and looked at her sternly. “I’m taking his advice. No more bodyguards for you.”

“Really?”

“You’ve earned some privileges. The next bodyguard you will have will be one you assign to yourself and report only to you. And one more thing. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. I think you’re ready to take over the business division of Future Industries.”

“Are you serious? What about you?” This was better than her past ten birthdays combined.

“I’ll be concentrating on the R&D unit. You’ve done a good job so far, and I want to take a step back. As you know, the business and marketing units are incredibly important. You’ll handle those, and you’ll also get all the capabilities that come with the post.”

Asami grinned and rubbed her hands. The intelligence-gathering capabilities of Future Industries were probably one of the best in the world. There were trackers and backdoors everywhere, manned by loyal and able staff.  “Wait till Mako hears that I’m his boss.”

Hiroshi cracked a smile. “And for your first assignment, you’re coming with me to the lunch with the diplomats. Mako will be there too. You can tell him in person before lunch.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You'll never believe the good news I just got,” Asami said.

“Should I attempt to guess?” Mako asked. “Because that never goes well for me.”

“‘Your period’ was never a suitable answer to that question,” Asami shot back. “You could try a little harder.”

“Considering the scares you had over the years,” Mako replied. “I’d say it was a valid reply,”

“Why is everybody hung up on that topic! No! I was promoted!”

“And?”

“I’m officially your boss,” Asami smirked. Mako groaned and shook his head.

“What about Mr. Sato?”

“He wants to concentrate on other things.” She smoothed her hair back as the elevator reached their floor. “How do I look?”

“Gorgeous,” Mako said without sparing her a glance as the door opened. “As always. Watch the windows. Form a perimeter,” he whispered loudly into his mic. His men moved into position. A lot of it was for show. Their best security was never seen; but important people were never assured by that. She’d known Mako for as long as she’d worked for Future Industries. They’d even had a mutually beneficial arrangement for a little while before she lost interest. Still, she would trust him with her life.

The diplomats from the Fire Nation were already seated around the banquet table. They had booked the entire restaurant for this lunch. Hiroshi was the latest, followed by his shadow, Bolin. Bolin gave her a subtle grin and a thumbs-up. News travelled quickly. The discussion began in earnest as the first course was served. Future Industries was a private company, but there was no doubt as to who pulled the strings in Republic City. Every important visitor to the city paid their respects to the Satos under one guise or another. Future Industries wanted to expand into the Fire Nation, and the diplomats wanted to get rich. It was a win-win situation for all. The meeting ended with Future Industries gifting a brand new Satomobile to each dignitary. They were delighted.

“Limited edition, with a specialized anti-grav unit,” Asami announced.  And a tracking device, she added mentally. That reminded her that she had someone else to share the news with.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hello?” Korra answered the phone, breathless. Asami had stepped out on the balcony to make the call.

“I know you’re away hanging with your friends, but I’ve got some fantastic news. I’ve been promoted!” Korra habitually spent her weekends visiting friends away from Republic City.

“Babe…that’s great!” It was completely quiet in the background on her end.

“Are you…panting?”

“Yeah, actually, the guys and I decided to go for a jog to our favourite restaurant. Exercise before food, that’s the best way for satisfaction all around!” And very chipper, Asami noted. She was rich and snobbish, not insensitive. Still, exercise tended to have that effect on everyone. “And this body requires maintenance.”

“Mmm,” she said. “I can believe that. Well, let me know when you get back to the city. I need to bring you out to celebrate.”

“Can’t wait!” Korra replied her voice low and warm, just as Asami’s phone beeped.

“I’ll talk to you later, I’ve got an incoming call.”

“Sure, bye.”

Asami accepted the next call. “Your mic was on,” Mako said. “Who’s that? Your new girl?”

“My new girlfriend, actually.”

“That is unexpected, but it does explain a lot. Poor Iroh.”

“Poor Iroh what?” Asami questioned.

“Nothing. Anyway, Mr. Sato is looking for you. It seems that the lunch isn’t over.”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tekki was seated at the table when Asami reappeared in the dining room. Another round of dessert was served and waiting for her.

“And you've met my daughter Asami. She’s been handling your business since the start. We’ve just decided that she will head all the business decisions, so any queries should go through her,” Hiroshi said as Asami sat down.

“What is this about?” she whispered.

“Tekki has a new offer for us. She’s just about to tell about it.”

The woman seated directly opposite was short and square-jawed. Her eyes were hooded, alert. “I’ve heard that Future Industries is investing more in neohuman technology. I would like to cut a deal for your latest enhancements. For, say, a hundred subjects.”

“How much money are you offering?” Asami asked. Straight to the point. Tekki wrote a number on the napkin and handed it over.  “It’s not enough,” she declared without hesitation.

“I will sweeten the deal for you. My sources say that Future Industries is looking to further their research and they require human test subjects for the latest stage in testing. I do have such a pool of people. People who would be willing to run a risk to become neohuman. What if I paid this amount for a hundred of the latest enhancements and gave you about fifty-ish people willing to trial the new procedures? ”

Asami frowned. “We can’t begin tests on human subjects until it passes regulatory approval. Why not just buy any of the older stuff? That should be affordable for a hundred people and guaranteed to work. Like super-strength, for example.”

“Look,” Tekki said. “I trust Future Industries. Your tech is what has made this city great, but it takes fifteen years to get the board’s approval. That’s way too slow. The older stuff just won’t cut it anymore. I want the cutting edge tech. I will not expose any of my people to unnecessary risk, but should a new tech arise which Hiroshi is confident will work, why not test it? He is a pioneer and I trust his judgment. You get paid per subject and my client is a neohuman. Win-win. On top of it, you get precious data. I am told that human trials are the most concrete proof of the probability of success of a procedure.”

She patted the napkin. “Money is one thing. Tech, however, is a legacy. This is the stuff history is made of.”

Asami was a little out of her depth. She dealt with the business, not with the specifics. She hadn’t the faintest clue as to what neohuman R&D was developing now. Besides, she’d always been more interested in the cars. Fortunately, the expert was here. “Dad?”

Hiroshi Sato steepled his fingers as he thought for a long while. “Your faith in me is touching,” he said slowly. “And you must understand that there are many things I must consider.” Asami prepared for his inevitable rejection of the deal. “But still, this is an opportunity I cannot pass up. I will take the deal.” Stunned, Asami stood up to shake Tekki’s hand. “Asami will draw up a legal contract for you by the end of next week. Look for a message from us then.”

In a daze, Asami watched Tekki leave. Her father squeezed her shoulder. “What an opportunity!” he whispered. “What a gift!” Asami tried to smile. This wouldn’t be the first time they flouted the law.  In fact, Future Industries did it almost regularly. She shouldn’t feel remotely shocked or panicked. It was routine and Dad knew what he was doing. Perhaps it was just the excitement of the day. The new job and the new responsibilities were getting the better of her. Asami lifted her chin and hardened her resolve.

No risk, no reward. But why did she have the feeling she was digging her own grave?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Asami starts digging


	4. Chapter 4

9 MONTHS AGO

Everything was going well, Asami thought as she tapped on her computer. Tekki had signed the contract and the first human subjects, for legal and illegal purposes, were arriving today. Her father no longer appeared at the Future Industries Tower. He had installed himself in a big office in the R&D and manufacturing facilities an hour from the city centre.

In order to cement this lucrative deal, Asami thought, she should go down to welcome them here. Yes, it would be good. She needed to lay some of her unfounded misgivings to rest. Just a short welcome visit and she could get back to work. Asami hopped into her Satomobile and an hour later, arrived at the electric gantry of the facility.

“Asami Sato,” she said, lowering the window and pressing her thumb on the recognition pad by the gantry. The machine beeped once, and then the barrier shimmered and disappeared. She parked ina reserved lot. The bus wasn’t due for the next fifteen minutes. She had time to spare. Asami stepped into the building. It was a drab grey and black colour with people scurrying about. Some of them spared her a quick nod of the head. Asami humphed. They really should learn who was paying their wages, but this really wasn’t an opportune time to remind them.

Asami looked at the building directory on her personal device. The neohuman facilities were in the basement levels. Since she was already here, why not? Asami cast a furtive glance about, and then took the elevator down. It wasn't as if she was breaking and entering or doing anything remotely illegal. She was just wandering aimlessly about the place. Asami took a deep breath. The neohuman section was stark white and grey metal, the corridors bordered with glass windows that showed the actual labs. She crossed the lobby and accessed the first door. So far, so good. The people in the lab were busy; none seemed to notice her presence. The labs had a plate stuck in the wall, with labels like ‘SHIN LEI – NEURAL PROGRAMMING’ and then a series of symbols to indicate the danger level of the lab.

She ambled down the maze of corridors, each time going further and further down the rabbit hole.  What she should be looking for were the test rooms. Engineers had test chambers. She’d assumed neohumans testing had the same. A larger, empty room where they could observe their patients. She descended five more floors, and then tapped her way in. There was nobody on this floor. At the second door, and the machine beeped ‘ERROR – UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS’. Unauthorized? Asami frowned. Unauthorized?! The nerve!

 Asami checked her watch. She really had to go. She glared at the door one last time and then took the lift up. 

“Asami! What are you doing here?” The stout man was striding towards her purposefully. Hiroshi Sato actually looked shocked to see her.

“Just checking on the first delivery, Dad. The first shipment of blasters and explosives go out today too.”

“You needn’t have worried. I can oversee things on this side.”

Asami shrugged. “It is my first deal, and it is a very lucrative one.”

“You’ll be fine, Asami. It’ll all be fine,” Hiroshi said. One of his guys tapped him on the shoulder and he stepped away to talk. The grey bus was there at exactly the agreed upon time. Twenty men and women disembarked. They looked absolutely ordinary. Normal polyester tops and pants, with casual sneakers or sandals. They laughed and shook hands with the workers who’d come to escort them into the facility, and accepted the Welcome Package with thanks. Nothing out of the ordinary here. Neither Tekki nor anybody important was here. Maybe that hour's drive was wasted, Asami thought.

"My people say you were in the basement just now," Hiroshi spoke suddenly. 

"I was," Asami said.

"You can't just go wandering in there, Asami. We have safety precautions. And you'll just be a distraction for them." She was hardly a distraction, Asami thought sourly. Nobody really knew or bothered with her. 

"I was just curious," Asami defended herself. 

“I know, baby girl. Why don’t you go back to the office and leave this to me?”

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Asami packed her bag and slung it over her shoulder. As usual, she was one of the last ones to leave the office. She stopped by the washroom and applied a fresh coat of lipstick. She liked to look fantastic for herself.

It was the first day of the month, so Korra wasn’t free for dinner. So would it be take-out, or eat in? Asami missed Iroh suddenly. With him around, she was always assured company for dinner. She revved the engine. How about a drive-thru? Eating dinner while the car drove itself leisurely around the city sounded awesome to her.

Her choice of food today was Narook’s Noodles. She unpacked the food and breathed in the aromatic fumes as her car moved leisurely down the street and onto the highway. So long as she wasn’t itching to do anything dangerous, the car was perfectly capable of driving on its own. Still, she habitually checked her mirrors. She was soon elevated high above the ground level. In the distance, she could see the Blackstone Bridge, the oldest bridge on this continent, built by Iknik Blackstone Varrick himself for his wife Zhu Li Moon. Although the rails alone with sufficient to guide a car and keep it floating, most people were allergic to the thought of being suspended in the air on two slim pieces of metal. Hence, most of the highways, the bridge included, had an actual physical structure along with the rails.

Asami was just thinking about how illogical people were and when something caught her attention. The blue car behind was turning onto the same exit as her, and then up onto the next highway. The car was so far back that she normally wouldn’t have noticed, if only she wasn’t so idle and the car wasn’t so ugly. It was an old, cheap, Cabbage Corp model. Asami snorted. And she was pretty sure it was following her, while trying to pretend that it was not.

Asami was used to people trying to follow her. At one time, the paparazzi had been very interested in her life, before she’d become old news. And then there was Iroh. When she was younger, she used to play a game called Spot Iroh. She’d drive on the roads and try and guess which car was his. Let’s check the calibre of this driver, she thought as she gripped the wheel and turned off the autodrive.

She pushed the pedal to the metal as the car roared to life and she began weaving between cars to make a dangerous turn to exit the highway. The car followed, albeit in a less reckless fashion. She brought the follower in a merry chase around the city before she grew bored of their game. Turning back onto the highway, she pulled abruptly onto the road shoulder. It was technically illegal to do so, but who cares? Asami ate her noodles as she watched the blue car slow down, and then sped up to follow the traffic. Her pursuer knew the gig was up. Still, he/she wasn’t a bad driver. Asami was just better.

Way past midnight, Asami pulled up outside the gates of the mansion. As she drove slowly off rails and into the mansion, something in the rearview mirror caught her eye. She leaned in for a closer look.

There was the blue bonnet of a car just visible at a corner down the street.

Was it worth all the extra effort? Asami couldn’t decide as she paced her room. It could be anything. A stalker, a groupie, a fan. Better safe than sorry, she thought as she turned on her computer. Her hunch was telling to get to the bottom of this. Goodness knew why Cabbage Corp was still around. Their airships were paper, their cars even worse and their online security virtually non-existent. Asami accessed their database easily, searching for the car registration number. The driver’s name and personal details showed up. Asami cross-checked the name and information with the city hall’s records.

There was no such person. Asami sat back, puzzled. Okay, there were plenty of black market cars in the city. But proportionate to market share, majority of them were Satomobiles. Honestly, who’d want a Cabbage Corp car?

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another meeting with Tekki had been scheduled. Asami sat in the boarding room waiting for the other two. She looked out of the window, trying to see the parked cars. Was that her tail? Or the other one? Asami shook her head. She was becoming paranoid. Deep breath. She should be thinking of other things, like her business for example. Tekki was easily their biggest client in recent months. Asami pondered that thought as she twirled the pen between her fingers.

There was a loud knock on the glass door. “The client is here,” the secretary said unnecessarily. Asami could very well see Tekki through the glass. She stood slowly, not ready to accord Tekki with the full respect.

“Your father?”

“He will be here in a minute. Perhaps we can start the discussions first.”

“If that’s what you want.” Asami absolutely loathed the way Tekki was looking at her. That smug expression, the patronising smile. Asami worn those often enough to recognise it. She thought she had the upper hand. Asami settled for a charming smile. Business was business. She could take out her anger in the gym later.

“So, the second shipment of arms goes out today. And the second quarter of subjects should be reporting to the facility.”

“That is correct,” Tekki said. “You do know how to read.”

Asami caught her breath and forge onwards. “Then why are we meeting? Are things not going smoothly? Is there any way I can assist you?” She asked, her voice sickeningly sweet.

“Yes, actually. I would like to renegotiate our deal. I would like to extend it to include twenty more subjects and I will pay the amount proportionate to our initial deal.”

Given how smoothly and profitably things were going, this was not an unfair request, but Asami had had enough of her. “No.”

“Excuse me?”

“No. In my opinion, the initial deal for enhancements was a mistake. Therefore, no. I do not wish to extend the deal.”

“In your opinion?” Tekki’s lips moved in an imitation of a smile. “You should hear what they say in some circles about your opinion, Ms. Sato. I must say I was surprised when Hiroshi promoted you. Shocked, even.” Deep breath, one, two, three. “I will discuss it with your father.”

“I handle the business now, not him,” Asami said, borderline growling. “My word is fin--”

“Here he is now,” Tekki said as Hiroshi entered the room. “I was just discussing with your daughter here—” Asami looked away, disconcerted. Gone was her antagonizer --Tekki’s expression was far more pleasant, her manner warm.

Hiroshi uttered words of acquiescence and Asami knew it was a lost cause. “No, Dad, I do not believe—”

“Asami? A word please?” The two of them retreated from the room. “What’s gotten into you?” Hiroshi whispered. “We never argue in front of clients.”

“I don’t’ think we should do it Dad. It’s not good.”

“It won’t be the first time we extend contracts. Besides, think of the revenue! The profits! And the science!”

“I am the Head of Business,” Asami argued. “You should trust me.”

“You are,” Hiroshi said with a pause, “and so far you have…not been performing.” Asami’s jaw dropped. Hiroshi continued before she could find her tongue. “Remember, Asami, you might be my daughter but you’re still on probation. A good businessman is measured by his profits,” Hiroshi said, “remember that.” Before Asami could add anything else, Hiroshi had entered the room and shook hands. The deal was sealed.

Tekki left the room with a smirk and Hiroshi returned to his R&D duties. Asami sat numbly at the table idly scrolling through her tablet. She glanced at the streets below. A blue Cabbage Corp car was parked just across the street.

She wasn’t taking this lying down. Something felt wrong -- apart from the illegal experimentation, illegal arms deals and illegal vehicular tracking. Asami was going to find out exactly what that was.  

“You called?” Mako asked.

“Yes,” Asami said, sitting up straight. “First time I’m using your services.”

“Only these particular ones,” Mako grumbled.

“I need information on a client. This woman here, Tekki.” She slid photographs of the woman across the table. “You’ve probably seen her at least once, at that lunch. Preliminary searches haven’t turned up anything. She must be using a fake name.”

“Okay,” Mako said. “Great. Just a few more questions. Do you want this to be discreet? Or should I start ringing up everybody I know in the city?”

“Discreet,” Asami replied. “I’ll place a long call to her today to discuss specifics and also for her to sign a contract. Track the call and you will have her immediate location.”

“Okay,” Mako looked as though he was going through a mental checklist. “You want a tail. Her personal particulars. Daily routines?” Nod. “Family, friends and contacts?” Nod. “Do you also want surveillance on her house?”

“Yes,” Asami hesitated.

“Do you want a search of her house? A copy of her digital files?”

“Hmm. Why not?” She said.

“Fingerprints, retina scans and DNA samples?”

“If you can.”

“And a ready-to-terminate order?”

“What?”

“It means we keep the target under surveillance around the clock, until the order is given to assassinate the individual.”

Asami paused. “This is an option?”

Mako shrugged. “Some people are a threat who cannot be dealt with by conventional means. It’s always helpful to have this option.”

“You’ve done this before?”

“I’m not allowed to say,” Mako said crisply and shut his mouth.

“No, no. That will not be needed. For now. I expect monthly reports,” Asami instructed. “Now, go.” Mako stood and saluted before leaving. Asami allowed her grin to show. This job really had its up and downs. Watching Mako salute her had to be one of these moments.


	5. Chapter 5

_7 MONTHS AGO_

Asami gathered her essentials and dumped it into her purse.

Curiosity kills the cat, she knew, but she had combed her resources for a clue as to what went on on the fifth basement floor. There was nothing on it floating in the servers. She then looked for the door access codes. Somebody went through the effort of storing the approved IDs on a whole other server from all the other doors, and they had deliberately omitted her.

Mako’s tracking of Tekki hadn’t yielded any fruit. He’d always lost her at some point in the Old Town, that crazy place. Which begets the question. What was Tekki doing there? And how did they even come across this peculiar client? If she wanted to know that, she would have to do some adventuring on her own. Hiroshi Sato was out of town for the weekend in a business trip to Ember Island. Ever since the start of the contract with Tekki and his reassignment to R&D, Hiroshi had been very reluctant to leave the city. She’d waited for this chance for two whole months. She sprinted down to the garage. First though, she had to shake her tail.

Asami was no longer under illusions regarding her privacy. All her movements were tracked. Somebody had put her under heavy surveillance, and she had her suspicions. Her Satomobile zoomed out onto the streets and cut a sharp left turn. A black Cabbage Corp car pulled out of a parking lot minutes later and followed behind. As the two cars turned the corner, Asami walked to the bus station outside the apartment, woollen hat pulled low over her head. She was wearing one of Korra’s coats, and her hair was up in a bun. Her own clothes were far too recognizable. Asami looked up at the numbers and sighed. Spirits, she was actually going to have to take the bus.

On the bus, she pulled out her personal device. She kept track and remote control of her precious car and its tail on her personal device as it went about the city, once in a while she honked just to make it more believable. She had never been an exceptionally patient driver. As per its instructions, the car parked at various places for set time before moving off, to give it a better illusion. An unmanned car was also illegal, but Asami didn’t even think twice about doing it.  Her little game made the bus ride just a little better. Asami took the bus to the edge of town and then hailed a cab to the facility. At the gantry, Asami stated her identity and presented her thumb. She was relieved that it worked. She paid the full fare in cash and then hurried into the facility.

Asami went straight to the neohumans department. The place was deserted, and yet the lights were on and there were several cars in the carpark. Several shift workers must still around, somewhere, though Asami didn’t see them. She spied a lab named neural computing, with one young man at the table. Perfect. Asami knocked on the door and stepped into the room.

The man turned and nearly dropped his coffee. He rubbed his eyes and Asami almost laughed. “Hello, what are you working on?”

“Ms. Sato?” he stuttered. Good, at least he recognised her.

“I’m waiting for my dad,” she peered at his screen. “You look like you need help,” she offered. The young man’s eyes darted uncertainly around. “I’m always here to help,” Asami said. “Look at this part here for example. You could make it easier if you did this,” she leaned in close and typed into the keyboard. Her charm worked on a wide range of people (see her dating history) but really, susceptible young men were her specialty. It helped that she was also technically his senior management. “Would you…do you mind getting me a coffee? What you’ve got there smells delicious.”

The poor man leapt to his feet and obeyed. Asami’s fingers flew over the keyboard. If she was lucky she would be able to access the intranet from here. Quickly, she scanned through the files. None of the projects were new. All of the stuff was either already on the market or were already in the process of being approved. She closed the programs as he came rushing back with her drink.

“Thank you,” she said. “Have a happy weekend.” To wink or not to wink, she debated, but decided that would be too much. She was trying to flirt, not to give him an aneurysm. Asami headed to the third basement floor. Even if normal terminals couldn’t access this data, she knew somebody’s computer which could.

Asami pressed her thumb to the pad outside her father’s office. The door remained locked. Looking left and right, she accessed the central control system and changed gave herself access. She tried again. The door swung open. Asami flipped open his laptop and typed in the password. As much as her father loved security, he really chose crappy passwords. She took a data drive from her pocket and inserted it into both the computer and the laptop, installing the software onto both machines, before she put everything back in its original place. She had to be fast. This had to look genuine on the cameras.

She took a deep breath and went down to the fifth basement floor, second door. Again, access was denied. She tapped on her device. She had barely pressed the next button when a heavy arm clapped on her shoulder.

“Ms. Sato?” A stocky woman looked at her accusingly from under her peaked cap. That wasn’t the way you looked at your employer. Asami straightened her back.

“Yes?”

“This floor is for authorized personnel only.”

“Are you telling me I’m not authorized? How dare you!” Asami glared. 

The guard must be sweating buckets now, but she didn’t show it. She scrolled down a list of names on her comms set. “I’m afraid you’re not authorized, Ms. Sato. If you try the door, I think it will tell you so.” Asami pressed her finger on the pad and it beeped red.

“Allow me to escort you to the door,” the guard said solicitously. Asami snatched her arm away.

“I’ll see myself out.” She was forced to endure an awkward elevator ride with the guard, and then she strode purposefully towards the doors with her dignity intact. She sent new instructions to her car to get her. At the glass doors, Asami paused. The black Cabbage Corp car was there, in the parking lot amongst all the other cars. It might be a totally different car of the same make. Coincidence, Asami told herself. It was just a coincidence.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Asami collapsed on the couch in her room and locked the door behind her. The program she had left in her father’s laptop would extract files and send them to her as long as he was connected to the internet. The data was starting to pour in. She sifted slowly through it. Most of it was unremarkable. There were emails to the client about the progress of the project. It seemed that it was going smoothly. That was great, she reminded herself. Her year-end bonus would be enormous.  Perhaps this whole exercise had been just that, an exercise. She should put her fears to rest. Perhaps her tail in the Cabbage Corp car was really just an unconnected gangster.

Then, a file came in labelled ‘PROJECT AVATAR’.

Asami frowned. It was a video file. Asami played it. There was a man strapped onto a table. He was conscious and breathing. “Now, gradually raise your arms, and flex. Aim for this target.” The instruction was given. The voice was distinct and unmistakable. The man took a deep breath raised his arm and punched forwards. A jet of flames burst forward and then abruptly stopped. The man seemed to be locked stiff. His eyes rolled backwards. Was he smoking? There were tendrils of smoke coming from his skin as he began to scream. The sharp keening sound seared her ears as the man shook and spasmed. There was a solid knock on her door and Asami slammed her laptop shut, her heart thundering.

“Who’s that?” Her voice wavered.

“It’s me,” Hiroshi Sato replied.

“One moment,” Asami crossed the room and opened the door. “Yes?”

“I received an email this afternoon. One of the staff says she found you trespassing in the basement. Again.”

“I was looking for you,” Asami said. “Got lost.”

“You know very well where my office is,” Hiroshi replied. “This is highly unprofessional conduct, Asami. Are you sure you’re alright? You’ve been acting so oddly recently. Maybe I’ve been too hasty in--”

“I’m alright, Dad, really. It’s just the stress with the new job and the new-ish relationship.”

“Even so, it cannot happen again. If it does, I may have to remove you from your post,” Hiroshi said and Asami’s stomach turned. It must have shown on her face, because Hiroshi continued, “no need to be so worried, baby girl, I’m sure you can do it. Just, relax. You were made for this business. Just concentrate on the matters at hand. And take time off if you need to.”

“Sure, Dad.”

Hiroshi craned his neck. “What were you watching? Videos?”

“No, it’s nothing. Just badger moles rolling about.”

“Funny,” he said absentmindedly. “Oh and one more thing. You’ll tell me if there’s anything on your mind, won’t you?”

“Dad,” Asami debated internally. “I know not everything we do is…approved.”

“Is this what’s been bothering you? Laws are guidelines, Asami, they exist to help us all. But sometimes they’re a hindrance more than help,” Hiroshi said.

“But, still, there are limits aren’t there?”

“What do you mean?”

Asami looked him straight in the eyes. “Nothing, Dad. Nothing at all.”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Dad, it’s going to be completely safe.”

Asami directed the men and women to the various boxes lying around her room. They obediently loaded the cases onto a hover-trolley in the corridor. Hiroshi Sato was standing with his arms crossed by her side.

“How could it be? What kind of security does she have?”

“The security on Korra’s apartment is adequate. I’ve made some upgrades myself. It’ll be fine.”

Hiroshi huffed his disapproval. “This is not fine with me, Asami. I want you to stay in the mansion. You’ve only known Korra for what, six months?”

“I’ll still see you in meetings and I’ll call you every day. I promise!”

 “Why can’t she move here instead?” Korra had the entire penthouse suite to herself. Between that and living just down the hall from her father, they’d both agreed the former was far more appealing. The heart of the matter though, was that Asami no longer felt safe alone at home. There were three different cars following her. The blue one had never appeared after the first day, and the next two were black and red respectively. All were Cabbage Corp models. “We have enough space, enough helpers to accommodate her. I’ll even give her a free car and a chauffeur to get her to work!”

“Dad,” Asami said, annoyed. “I’m not moving to the Fire Nation. I’m moving just twenty minutes away closer to the city centre.”

“You’re just…are you sure you can live by yourself?” It occurred to her then that Hiroshi trusted her with running a multi-million dollar company, but still thought of her as a little girl. “I forbid you to go,” Hiroshi said, suddenly stern. And there it was. At some point, Asami knew her father would stop wheedling and start laying down some hard and fast rules. Asami was cut from the same cloth.

“No, I’m going.”

“Don’t test me,” Hiroshi warned.

“Or what? You’ll ground me? Dad, I am growing up. I am settling down. Isn’t that what you wanted?” Asami picked up her last box and marched out of the room. For all his bluster, her father always gave in to her, his only daughter.

“Was everything alright?” Korra asked uncertainly as she opened the door. Two men and two women had been mobilized to help Asami shift her things to the apartment.

“Just put everything in the living room,” Asami directed. “It was a nightmare, but its fine now,” she said to Korra, giving her a brief peck on the lips.

“How are you things getting here? Do you need help?” Korra peered out of the window down at the street.

“Wrong direction,” Asami lifted her chin. There was a small plane speeding towards them and disappeared out of view as it landed on the rooftop.

“Wow,” Korra breathed. "You're  _rich._ " Asami’s helpers were efficient. They went up to the deck to greet the plane and four hover-trolleys were loaded and brought quickly into the living room.

“Leave it. I’ll sort it out myself,” Asami ordered and the staff disappeared.

“It's like magic," Korra said, awed. "Do you train all your people to do that?" Asami shrugged. “Why the sudden request anyway? My house is nice, but it isn’t really _that_ attractive.”

“I just…wanted to get out of the house,” Asami said. Okay, so she more or less invited herself to stay at Korra’s place, but it wasn’t like she’d objected strongly to the idea.

“Well. You can always come here,” Korra said, wrapping her arms around Asami. “Welcome home,” she whispered.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! Life hasn't been too co-operative. Major edits to Chapters 4, 5, and 6! Enjoy!

_6 MONTHS AGO_

Asami was cold. Winter was well and truly underway. The sky outside was dark and she wouldn’t be surprised if it was snowing. She wriggled under the covers, seeking her source of heat. Her hip bumped lightly into Korra’s ass.

“Mmm,” Asami sighed as she curled one arm around Korra’s torso and pushed her nose closer to Korra’s neck. She dozed off. When she next woke up, Korra’s sleepy sapphire eyes greeted hers. “Good morning.”

“Morning,” said Korra.

“Couldn’t sleep?”

Korra shook her head. “You woke me up. Do you mind…?” Asami took stock of exactly what her hand was resting on. She grinned and squeezed. Korra sucked in a harsh breath. “I have to leave in half an hour.” It was the weekend, which meant Korra was going to hang out with her friends wherever they were.

“That’s plenty of time,” Asami smirked and flipped to straddle her. Korra gave her a lazy smile, eyes awake and confident, as though daring Asami to make a move.

“You can’t,” she drawled. “I’m a hard woman to please.”

“And I love a challenge,” Asami said, lowering her lips to Korra’s. “I’ll bet tomorrow’s dinner on this.”

Turns out there were several perks to living together.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Iroh was cold. He stood on the main street of the Old Town and took a deep breath. He was a fire bender, so he wasn’t out of place per se. More than that though, Old Town featured very clear distinctions. There were clean and well-kept roads that the tourists tread to see the portal or the spirit wilds. And then there were the normal roads, with litter strewn at the sides and the domain of the drunks and triads at night. It was also where some of the most delicious food, and best drinks and the friendliest people were. He had grown up trapped by enough rules and etiquette that he fully appreciated the warmth and impropriety of the Old Town.

He’d thought he was paid lavishly, but when he quit his job, he also had to turn over the company car and move out of the small room in the Sato mansion. The rent in Republic City was shockingly high, and in a matter of months, he was forced to move into the Old Town, his bank account growing smaller and smaller. 

He trudged up to a small door sandwiched between two shops. “I’m here for the interviews,” Iroh said. “They’re expecting me.” The big man stared at him for a full minute before stepping aside and letting him pass. Iroh climbed easily up the stairs and knocked on the old wooden door with a frosted glass window. The door was opened from the inside. There was a hooded man seated at a table with a mask on his face. Behind him was another slim moustached man. He was armed with three guns and a large knife.

Somebody had contacted him anonymously two days ago, offering him a short-term contract for a very respectable sum of money. He would have been a fool not to grab that chance. That address had led to this shifty-looking place.

“Mister Iroh?”

Iroh nodded. The slim man gestured at the chair opposite him. Iroh shook his head.

“Sit.” Slowly, Iroh sat down on the chair. “You already know why you are here. We would like to offer you a job.”

“About what, exactly?”

“A bodyguard position,” the masked man said. “My body, to be specific. I think you’ll find the sum of money we are willing to offer is very high. You would be used to luxury, knowing your...background. A bit of extra cash wouldn’t hurt.”

“Why me? How did you find me?” Iroh asked, perplexed.

“In my line of work, I hear stories,” Amon said. “I know the name of the shadows, much as you try to hide from us.”

“I am the best of the best,” Iroh said. “Mister…”

“Amon. You can call me Amon.”

“Amon? Like the one from the legend?”

“Exactly like the one from the legend.”

 Iroh stood abruptly. “I don’t guard masked men. Especially if they hold armed interviews in an office in Old Town. I’ll show myself out.”

Neither of them made a move to stop him as he exited the room. Iroh felt cold sweat on his palms. That could have gone a lot worse. When he stepped out on the street, the big man was no longer there. He ducked into a long alley and came out on the next street. Mako was waiting there, bag slung over his shoulder.

“Thanks for covering my back,” Iroh said.

“Not a problem. I miss this place too. Who were they? What did they want?”

“Someone calling himself Amon.”

“Masked face?” Iroh nodded. It wasn’t unusual for gangsters to code name themselves after evil forces. This was not exceptionally new. He had seen several Vaatus, Unalaqs, Zahirs, Kuviras, Reizens and Crimson Fists. They seemed to particularly like the names from the seven feats of the Avatar from mythology. The name Amon just had a special feature of coming with a very creepy looking mask, and often, a modulated voice.  “So no job?”

“I’m not taking it,” Iroh replied. “Something’s not right.”

“You know, I wish you would just come back. Take up another position in another division,” Mako said.

“You know I can’t.”

“Why not? It’s your damned pride, isn’t it? Come on, I’ll give you a lift back to the city centre.” Mako started up his orange Satocycle.

“This looks familiar.”

“It’s Asami’s previous bike. She didn’t want it anymore,” Mako said gruffly. “Seemed like a waste.”

“I think I’ll stay and have a look around,” Iroh said. “Thanks for the offer.”

“Anytime,” Mako replied. He fixed on his helmet. “When you realize that you can’t eat your pride, do remember to give me a call.” He gunned the throttle and rocketed down the street.

Iroh strolled down the street, stopping for a bowl of hot noodles. The answers they had given him were unsatisfactory. He had several questions and he wanted some answers. The easiest way would just be to stick around.  Nothing stays a secret for long around here.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Asami watched Korra leave in her Satomobile from the window. She wondered where Korra went on weekends. Her eyes drifted to row of cars parked on the street. The Cabbage Corp car was here. It could have been anybody’s car, but deep in her bones, Asami knew that was the one. That had to be it. They knew where she was.

Asami opened the fridge. It was quite empty. Clearly Korra didn’t cook that often either. A trip to the supermarket was in order. She turned on her laptop. How about…deer lamb? She scrolled until she found a satisfactory recipe. It was titled ‘Roast Lamb Recipe’ followed by ‘Even you can’t screw up!’ Sounds convincing. She placed her order for groceries online. Asami got into her car and deliberately drove past the Cabbage Corp car. There was no one in it and it didn’t move as she sped past. Huh. Could be just her imagination then.

She went straight for the drive-through, scanned her receipt and the robots loaded the groceries into the boot of the car.  She was back within fifteen minutes, along with a take-out lunch from Kwong’s cuisine. Kwong’s didn’t serve take-out – except to her.

She turned on her computer. There was nothing interesting coming in from the program on her father’s computer. He must have taken the weekend off. Emails were coming in, but nothing from Tekki. She did, however, get some interesting files on other on-going neohuman projects. The actual above-the-board normal programs. Those were fascinating reads and took up most of her day. She was about to shut down when a thought occurred to her. She fired up the Future Industries programs and chose one, typing in Korra’s car plate number. Her finger hovered over the button. There was no going back from deliberate spying on a significant other. Her paranoia must be getting to her, Asami decided, and pushed the button down anyway.

Okay, she felt a little bad about this. A map appeared and homed in on her location. She was bad girlfriend, she thought, she was—wait. Was that the beach? Korra’s car was parked in the wilderness in the middle of nowhere. Asami forgot exactly where Korra had said she was going, but this was definitely not it. Off rails, Asami thought. That was super off rails. No wonder she knew about off rails travel.

Well. She knew what dinner conversation on Sunday night was going to be about.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So, I take it that you burnt dinner?” Korra said as she dropped her duffle bag on the floor. Take-out from Narook’s sat on the table, accompanied by a bottle of wine.

“At least I didn’t burn the kitchen down,” Asami sulked.

“We can’t all be perfect,” Korra grinned cheekily. “Though I’m still waiting for the first homemade dinner from one Asami Sato.”

Asami grumbled under the breath as Korra reached up and gave her a heated kiss. She smelled fresh. Asami returned it only half-heartedly.

“Something wrong? I didn’t mean it about the dinner,” Korra said worriedly, looking into her eyes. “This is fine too! Narook’s is delicious.”

“No, nothing’s wrong,” Asami smiled. “Let’s eat.”

Dinner went a lot easier after that. They discussed their weekend. Asami claimed she stayed home and watched movies, while Korra told her about climbing the rock formations in Ba Sing Se.

“Ba Sing Se? What’s it like in this time of the year?”

“Not as cold,” Korra replied. “So we were still able to climb.”

“You know, it’ll be nice to meet some of your friends. You must be really close for you to meet them every week.”

“I meet different people every week,” Korra said without missing a beat. “I know lots of people from everywhere.”

“I’m just saying maybe. Sometime soon?”

Korra gave her a non-committal nod and silence reigned as they finished up their food. After dinner, they decided to turn on the television.

“You seem distracted,” Korra said. She put her arms around Asami and pulled her close, hands stroking her side. “Maybe I could help—”

“Breaking news,” the reporter announced. “We interrupt all broadcasts to bring you tragic news. An explosion has occurred at Xingwang District today. Bender leader Amon has claimed responsibility for the recent attacks.” The feed cut to a grainy image of Amon and Asami felt Korra tense.

“Spirits!” The video feed switched to the aerial view, showing the smoking ground where a short building used to be. “The whole building?! Isn’t that the Millionaire’s Club?” she whispered, staring wide-eyed. The picture switched to that of paramedics air-lifting poorly censored victims on to the ambulances. Everything and everyone had been burnt. Asami flinched at that word. “Oh, shit.”

“It’s terrible,” Korra murmured. “Those poor people.”

She seemed unusually calm and quiet. For a moment, Asami hated her calm, but then, wasn’t that what she had loved about Korra? Maybe she was just exceptionally agitated today. She opened her palms and tried to relax. She sold weapons for a living, for spirit’s sake. What did she expect her products were used for? She pulled Korra closer to her.

“Did I tell you about the new belaying systems they have going on in Ba Sing Se?” Korra asked. “You’d have loved it. The engineering was amazing. It had all sorts of enhanced--”

The cheap Cabbage Corp cars must have been souped up, Asami thought suddenly as she laid her head on Korra’s shoulder, how had she not seen it sooner? There was no way it could have even hoped to keep up with her. Cheap Cabbage Corp models don’t just keep pace with an expensive custom-built Satomobile, Asami thought distractedly. She'd met Korra the same day she met Tekki, if she recalled correctly.

Asami wasn't sure if she still believed in coincidences.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Iroh didn’t have to wait long. As nightfall, he found himself pushing through a crowd to get seats in a pro-bending match. It was an old sport that had fallen out of favour except amongst young benders and it was easy to see why. In this version, there was only one rule: don’t kill your opponent. Gone were the restrictions on hits or protective gear, this was the raw deal.

A source had informed him that Amon was a fairly well-known leader who was responsible for the recent peace between the gangs. Peaceful gangs really only meant bad news was brewing elsewhere. Iroh took a seat and watched as person after person was pummelled into blood and broken bones, before the night’s winner was finally announced and Amon appeared.

He was dressed as he was earlier in the morning, with the hood, the mask and long sleeves. The crowd cheered as he made his appearance. He was the main event they had been waiting for.

“I am Amon, the leader of the Benders,” he growled. “Look around. Look around at the filth we are living in, the joke that bending has become. And while we wallow in our misery, the fat cats with the fast cash are living it up in Republic City.” He spat onto the dust. “Republic City was built by benders for benders. Why are we being shunted to the side? I’ll tell you why. They are afraid. They are afraid of us.” Amon held out his hand and with a quick swing, punched out the door with the ice from the moat. “The scared do not deserve this power. We do! I intend to tear it apart -- their mega-corporations and rich, political families. You think the spoilt brats who’ve never done a day’s work in their life deserve this? Or us? We break our backs for this city and we get nothing!”

“So we will take it from them and share the spoils amongst us! Your families need not go hungry, they need not be cold. You are looking at the future. We have no silver spoons, but we have gifts. And these are gifts that they ignore only at their own risk. There is a reckoning coming soon. An example is being made tonight. And we invite all to join us.”

The spotlight roamed the crowd and Iroh ducked his head down. Applause rang through the crowd. Amon was very popular here. Never mind that there were just as many benders in Republic City as there were in Old Town. He was appealing to the poor, and he was succeeding. As Iroh left the Arena, hands in his pockets, he recognised the same big man who’d blocked the stairs.

“I notice you came for the rally.” The slim moustached man was behind him.

“I thought it might be interesting,” Iroh replied.

“The job’s still open,” the man said. “We are offering you a chance to be on the winning side. A chance to strike back against Future Industries, against Asami Sato. And when we divide the spoils of war, you can have the girl. Any way you like.”

Iroh glanced up and met his gaze. “When do I start?”


	7. Chapter 7

_5 MONTHS AGO_

“How about that?” Asami asked.

“Nope,” the black-haired man ran his fingers through his unruly hair.

“Please?” This must be the closest she’d ever come to begging. “Please, Mako, please.”

“Let me get this straight. You want me to use my one day off this month to help you spy on your girlfriend?” Mako asked incredulously. “Not a client, or a competitor, but your girlfriend? Doesn’t your father already have a file on her?”

“I’ll give you another day. You’re pretty much the only person I trust,” she pleaded, “and I need more information.” Mako remained unmoved. “You know I could just order you to do it right? It’s part of my _capabilities_.”

“Do you really need to play that card? It’s not even work-related!”

“I could _make_ it work-related. But I won’t. Come on, I’ll buy you dinner,” Asami cajoled.

Mako massaged his temple. “Fine. Lunch and dinner. At Kwong’s.”

“You’ve got it,” Asami said. “Thank you! It won’t even be that hard. This is her Satomobile license plate. You can track it using our own programs. I’ve also bugged her phone.” She handed over a device. “You can also use that to track her. And,” Asami grinned. “You can use the plane. Just don’t crash it.”

“You’re very eager to know where she gets to, huh?” Mako muttered as he stood. “Are you, like, insecure or something?”

“I just wanna do it, okay? Now go away! The work is piling up.”

“Normal couples don’t do this!” he said as she pushed him towards the door. “I know a good therapist!” Asami shut the door behind him and took a deep breath. Work was just beginning to ramp up. She had several more deals to negotiate and iron out to really exceed expectations this quarter. Thankfully, none of them involved Tekki.

Mako had so far been unsuccessful in tracking her. They had managed to find her apartment, but it was extremely unhelpful. The place was furnished, but it was a shell of a home. There were books that were never touched, no devices or clothes or beauty products lying around. There were also no guests and the fridge was never stocked. The fact that Tekki had resisted Mako’s digging was commendable. It also told her that she had something to hide.

On top of that, somewhere along the way, she was going to have to find the time to look for a bodyguard. Not just any guard, but a proper shadow. And before that, she had to check that it was alright with Korra. He/she would be intruding on her privacy too.

Asami sighed. Relationships were just so much trouble.

* * *

 

Mako showed up only after sunset. He was lucky Asami was still in the office, typing angrily away at her computer. “So?” she asked without interrupting her work.

“It’s strange,” Mako said. “I followed her this way out east of Republic City. She was moving very fast too. Then she came to this cliff,” Mako drew an X on the holographic map. Asami finally regarded him properly.  He looked more serious than usual. Asami was already beginning to dread his news. “And she stopped. Heat sensors indicated that she was here and the canopy was too thick, so I disembarked and followed on foot. She was not alone.”

“And?”

“There was this cliff with a small cabin among the trees.” A small cabin huh. “She was just sitting there for a while.”

“Meditating.”

“Hmm?”

Asami made and impatient noise. “She does that. She calls it meditating.”

“Right. Then this man comes out of the cabin. Much older guy, black hair and beard.”

Asami’s nails bit into the fake wooden table. “Anyway, there I was hiding in the trees. And, suddenly, she stood up and looked around. And she saw me.”

“What?”

“I thought I was hidden, I swear! I chose a good spot, lying prone on the floor with plenty of bushes around. But she kinda turned and somehow knew I was there. She asked me what my business was.” She must have set up some sensors or cameras. There had to be some totally logical and reasonable explanation for Korra to be carrying those with her. “I’m not sure if she had a good look, but I bailed at that point.”

 “You’re terrible, you know that?” Asami sank back in her chair. “She could’ve recognised you.”

“How? I was wearing helmet and a visor. I stayed hovered above the site for a while. Korra left shortly after that.” Mako shuffled uneasily. “So…dinner?”

* * *

 

“You’re back late,” Korra said as Asami entered the apartment. She was lying on the couch, reading something on her tablet. It was way past midnight. Asami had haggled Mako’s reward, though frankly undeserved, down to a dinner and a night out. They’d hit their second favourite bar in the city, seeing as the number one had been blown to bits.

“You’re back a day early,” Asami answered as she unsteadily attempted to undo her shoes. Thank goodness for the autodrive. She’d had a few drinks and so much fun watching Mako and Bolin try their moves on the ladies. Bolin had been successful. Mako, not so much. She hadn’t danced or mingled. The attack three months ago was still fresh in her memory.

“Had fun?”

“Not much,” Asami tried to shrug. “You?”

“Not much either.”

There was a creak from the couch. Asami felt the warmth of a body move around her, and then Korra was kneeling on the floor, deft fingers undoing her shoe straps. “I saw Mako today,” she said quietly. Asami jerked in surprise and disguised it as a sloppy fidget. “Your friend.”

“Really? In Ba Sing Se?”

“No, when I was on my way back.” Korra gently removed one shoe and started on the next. Without looking up, she spoke, “he works for you, doesn’t he? For Future Industries, I mean. You’re not just friends.”

“He works for Future Industries,” Asami clarified. The other shoe was off now and Korra stood up. She had to tilt her head upwards to look Asami in the eye. Daring her to say more, Asami matched her stare. She became suddenly aware of the smell of alcohol and cologne clinging to her skin and breath. Okay, so she’d danced a little at the club, but only with Mako and Bolin. And she’d had a lot more to drink in the car while she stewed over the thoughts of Korra and the older man. Asami fought the urge to question her about it. It could have been an old friend, an uncle, anybody.

Korra broke eye contact first. She looked sad, resigned. “I’m going to sleep. Goodnight,” Korra said softly. Asami leaned in, but Korra was already gone, cold shoulder brushing tentatively against her chest.

* * *

 

Iroh lay flat on the rooftop, his rifle trained on the rally below. Amon was exhorting the crowd to new heights today in an old meeting square. A stage and spotlights had been rigged up to give Amon all the attention he wanted. In all honesty, this was way easier than guarding the Satos. Nobody with half a brain was actually intent on killing Amon in the Old Town. In fact, the Benders seemed shockingly popular. A large crowd had gathered at the bottom of the stage, all of them listening to Amon as he told them the truth. He told them of the corruption in New Town. Everybody was bought out, everyone a slave to money. He told them about the luxury, the excess, the money. Nothing fuelled passion more than jealousy.   

“When the Avatar disappeared more than a hundred years ago, the world was thrown out of balance,” Amon said. He pulled a rope of water from a pail and made it twirl in the air. “In his absence, we have failed him. We’ve allowed the hedons to thrive in New Town. Booze and blood and sex and lust, that’s what they’re selling up there. They’ll sell their mothers and their brothers if they could. That’s what we’ve allowed. That’s what we, the true servants of the Avatar, have done wrong.”

“So, tell me about Asami,” the slim man was lying prone next to him. Iroh got the feeling that he was still under probation.

“She’s rich,” Iroh grunted, not much for conversation.

“Hot?”

“Very.”

“There’s one. The one in the red coat. Troublemaker.” The man was clearly drunk, shouting at the people around him and clearly disrupting the speech. His hand reached into his jacket, taking out something shiny.

“I see him.”

“Fire.” Iroh squeezed the trigger. The blast hit its mark. The man in red reeled and toppled backwards. A small crowd converged on him, but there was not much panic. A few people picked him up and carried him away. An ambulance would take forever to get here. Why go to the hospital when you could visit the nearest drunk doctor, no questions asked? Amon continued with his speech. “Not bad,” the slim man said. “They weren’t joking when they hired you.”

“I am the best,” Iroh shrugged. “We should move.”

They clambered onto a neighbouring rooftop and sat on the convenient sloping roofs of the traditional structures. “What’s Amon’s plan now? How are we going to take on Republic City?” The city lights lay just over his shoulder, the bustling highways coming to neon-coloured life after sunset.

“Usual plan. Take out strategic assets and the element of surprise. Very standard stuff. There’s one person there. Keep an eye on him.” Iroh trained his binoculars on the suspicious element.

“Do this often?”

“We don’t usually kill people gratuitously, obviously,” the slim man explained. “More people die in the Arena every week. It’s just that these people in the Old Town respond to violence. We need to show them that we’re strong and skilled, and we have a plan for success.”

Amon wrapped up his presentation by twirling a jet of water in the air, and then throwing a shard of ice straight through the centre of a spotlight. “We will tear them down. Last night, I had a vision. In it the Avatar beckoned to me. The Avatar will return soon to guide us to the light. We must pave the way for the new mess—”

“Tomorrow something else is going down. Can’t tell you though, you’re still too fresh.” The slim man said. “Republic City is going to crumble and you should be glad to be on our side.” He peered intently through his binoculars.

“Fire.”


	8. Chapter 8

_3 MONTHS AGO_

Life was not going the way she had imagined.

On the bright side, she had closed a few more deals and that kept Future Industries extremely profitable. Only about half of those were under-the-table types for cars and machines and they were borderline legal at that. Asami strode into the garage. And, she’d finally managed to find herself a new bodyguard.

A tall woman with braided hair was standing at casual attention, a pose that only she could pull off.

“Nice day, D’aili.”

“Nice day, Miss Sato.” She was also incredibly stand-offish and impersonal. It finally dawned on her that this was how bodyguards were supposed to be. She had incredible referrals and good scores in the Academy. They had reached an agreement. D’aili would stay at the mansion, but she would come to fetch Asami every morning and evening. If it so happened that an armed threat magically materialized in Korra’s apartment, Asami would just have to trust in the panic button to notify D’aili and Mako.

And part of the reason for this entire arrangement was Korra. The usually calm Korra had been vehemently against having D’aili watch her apartment. Desperate to keep the relationship, Asami caved without another word. Her wonderfully paranoid mind, however, was left speculating about the possible reasons. In two months, their relationship had deteriorated more than she would ever have believed possible. Korra was distant. There were times when Asami had caught Korra staring off into the distance, deep in thought. Korra was unfailingly warm and polite as she was at the beginning, but Asami could tell her heart wasn’t in it. Asami had lost her trust, and she hadn’t even gotten to the bottom of that secret and there was no more opportunity to do so. Korra’s weekend trips ‘out of town’ had stopped and weekends felt even more awkward.

Asami got into the passenger seat. She’d given up fighting against protocol and driving on her own and just let D’aili do it. She had been childish and immature to do so anyway.

“To the office?”

Asami nodded. There was more crap awaiting her in the office in the afternoon.

* * *

 

Tekki sat at the table opposite her and Hiroshi Sato was next to her. The setting sun behind her highlighted the severity of her features and cast her face into shawdow. Just looking at that woman was beginning to cause her stress. Asami didn't know why her father insisted on coming for this meeting. It was his pet project, but surely he had better things to do? “The procedure had worked very well,” Tekki said. “Though at first we suffered several losses, the recent enhancements had been done to our client’s satisfaction. Future Industries has done a great job, just as promised.”

Hiroshi smiled warmly and Asami maintained her poker face. Things had not been so good between the two of them ever since their argument about her intrusion into the facility. It had resulted in Asami being (unfairly, she thought) banned from the entire R&D department.

“I must thank you too,” Hiroshi said. “Our research is complete because of that. In a few weeks we will unveil it to the public and begin the approval process.”

Asami shuddered. At least this deal was almost all complete. The last shipment would be going out in a few weeks. “So I trust our deal is concluded? We have met all the terms in our contract,” Asami said.

“Well, actually,” Asami’s heart fell. “We have another fifty people who want the _latest_ enhancements.” Tekki might as well had put in a nudge and wink with all that emphasis she put on the word.

Hiroshi nodded enthusiastically. “Of course, we can—”

“Wait,” Asami frowned. “What’s in it for us? Why are we—” Tekki took out a piece of paper and threw it across the table. Disrespectful bitch, Asami almost growled. She unfolded the paper and blinked. The sum was staggering. “I suppose…I guess…how did you even come by this money?”

“We have new clients and new investors. Surely you know by now I’m just the middleman,” Tekki replied.

She exchanged a glance with her father and she saw him nod once. He seemed unusually nervous and tense. He kept darting sideways glances at her. She’d received fourteen more videos since the first one. All of them started with a person in the chair, and all of them ended up dead. Though judging by the subject stamp, the researchers only sent him the videos of the failures. That meant that the procedure was mostly successful, but she couldn’t help shudder at the memory of the videos. She knew what it felt like to be helpless and immobile. She hesitated and Hiroshi frowned at her. “We’ll take it,” Hiroshi interjected just as she opened her mouth.

“Just these fifty test subjects,” Asami added hurriedly. “Then our business with you is concluded.”

“Of course,” Tekki said. “Nice doing business with you.”

It was all she could do not to slap the woman. Instead, Asami made herself stare out of the window, where the Cabbage Corp car was inevitably parked. Spirits, she hated that woman.

Before Hiroshi could begin his comments, there was a knock on the meeting room door.

“Come in,” Hiroshi said. “Were we expecting anybody?”

Asami shook her head. A tall man with sharp, angular features was ushered into the room. Utaruk the police chief settled himself in Tekki’s vacated chair, helmet in his hands. “Good afternoon,” he said and Asami greeted him likewise.

“You’re wondering why I’m here,” he said. “I’ll cut straight to it. The fact is we’re a little short of ordinance. If we need a lot more equipment to arm and defend our people, and Future Industries is one of the best. So, I’m here to cut a deal.”

“I’ll need about two hundred shields and blasters, new stun grenades,” the list went on and on.

“How much can you pay?” Hiroshi broke in.

The police chief typed a number onto the touch pad and slid it over. Asami looked at the number, and then at Tekki’s offer in her hand. She was suddenly sick of the whole business. Why couldn’t she just sell cars? Or planes? Or computers? Why didn’t people look for her on the fly and say ‘I want a hundred of them shiny Satomobiles’?

The nonsense with Amon had not stopped. In fact, it had escalated into a high alert from the police. They had even gone so far as to installed metal detectors and body checks for the Future Industries Tower. After the millionaire club, the luxury airport was next to go, and then a chain of high-end shopping malls. Nowhere was safe, but only if you were rich. On top of that, the Old Town was absolutely off limits to outsiders, or anybody driving anything other than a battered car from a decade ago. The gangs in the Old Town had taken their cue from Amon. The few police forays attempted had been abject failures.

“I’ll take it,” Asami said.

“Asami, now let’s—”

“I’ll take it,” Asami repeated, glaring at her father.

The police chief sagged with relief. “To tell you the truth, I was afraid you wouldn’t take it. What with training all the new cadets, there isn’t really much to go around. Thank you.” He gripped their hands tightly as he shook it.

“I’ll draw up the contract,” Asami said. The police chief thanked them again and left the room. Immediately, Hiroshi rounded on her.

“Asami, that’s not the way we do business. That was way below the asking price! And you could have gotten 20% more desperation surcharge,” he said, tense and agitated. This was not the father she had known. Asami was quiet as she stood up and tucked the paper into her pocket. Hiroshi frowned at her, the lines on his face creasing into a stern mask. “You’re out of control Asami! You wanted to turn the deal with Tekki down too, didn’t you?”

“You know I disapproved of human testing right from the start,” Asami said as levelly as she could.

“Why? You know it has been my dream.” Asami didn’t answer. “This is atrocious. I am very disappointed, Asami. What happened?”

Asami dropped her eyes to the floor. This, from the man she still loved and respected. She felt terribly small. “Take the day off and reflect on your actions. I expected better from you.” She heard him heave himself to his feet and exit the room. Asami sat for a long while at the table.

“I just wanted to do something right for once,” she whispered.

* * *

 

D’aili drove her home. They sat in complete silence watching the scenery go past. D’aili didn’t ask any questions, nor did Asami offer any explanations. Asami had the feeling that D’aili preferred it like this.

Asami sat in the study in the apartment and pulled out her laptop. She was doing this for a good cause, she reminded herself. She typed in the password and opened a locked folder. In it were fifteen video files. A sixteenth one was currently being transferred. Let’s see what the tide brought in, Asami thought and steeled herself as she pressed the button.

There was a black-haired young woman strapped to the chair. Asami subconsciously clenched her fists.

“Raise your hand. Lift this pebble.” She did so without any trouble. Asami forced herself to watch. It couldn’t possibly be worse than the last fifteen videos. “To the left, to the right.”

The stone stopped in midair, and the woman began to silently convulse. Her eyes rolled back as she spasmed. And as with all the other videos, her skin began to smoke as she let out an ear-splitting shriek. Unlike the first video she’d watched months ago, however, this one did not immediately shut off.

“Record heart rate, blood pressure.”

“Shall we administer the morphine?”

“No,” Asami’s blood ran cold. “Just let it run its course. Keep recording the vital statistics.”

The woman’s skin began to turn black.

“Muscles are locked, sir. Heart is failing. Brain and nervous systems are active and unresponsive. She can feel everything.”

“Keep recording. We need the data. No risk, no reward.”

Asami swallowed hard. The shrieking had stopped. All that could be heard was the repeated knocking of her skull against the hard rest of the chair.

“Asami? Dinner?” Asami jumped. Korra stood at the door, expression pleasant.

“Wha…what? Yes, of course, I’ll be right there,” Asami mumbled, flustered.  

“Is something wrong?” Korra asked, and there it was again. The warm _nice_ sort-of smile. What happened to the big contagious grins? Asami wished she would just shout or get mad at her. Anything would be preferable to this.

“No, nothing. Give me a minute to change and I’ll be right there.”

"Of course." Korra gently shut the door.

Her protector was gone, her father was a monster and now Korra.  Asami pressed her hands to her eyes and began to cry.


	9. Chapter 9

_1 MONTH AGO_

Asami awoke to the feeling of someone warm snuggled against her back. She glanced blearily at the clock. It was 6.30a.m. She still had a half an hour before she had to get out of bed. She turned in bed.

Korra looked so peaceful in her sleep. Asami brushed her hair away from her face. What were her choices? They could break up. Asami had been tossing the notion around her mind, but she couldn’t go through with it. The tabloids would have a field day. The fact that Korra hadn’t dumped her either meant something, or at least Asami hoped so.

There had been something fishy going on, Asami knew. Okay, so if Korra was doing/seeing something/someone dodgy, that had all stopped, hadn’t it? There were no more weekend trips. Asami shifted uncomfortably. So it’s not in a tiny cabin on a cliff, but it could be in her office, or at a random restaurant out of town. There was no way to ever be sure.

Asami wrapped her arms around the sleeping girl and closed her eyes. She could blame her subconscious. She so desperately wanted to believe it was nothing. The tabloids were a reason, but deep down, Asami knew she couldn’t let go. Spirits, she was pathetic.

When she woke up again, the bed was empty and she was late for work.

* * *

 Iroh sat in the living room of the common apartment. Shin, the slim man, was not around. He has with Amon in the next door unit. This entire floor of apartments belonged to Amon’s gang and Iroh was graciously permitted to live here rent free. He drew a card and threw one down on the pile. Between all the neohumans and benders in the room, they could very easily topple the building in one bad brawl. And so, all addictive substances had been prohibited. Instead, they had a full game set and watered drinks. Behind the four card players, the others were playing some racing game on the giant monitor. They all wearing the approved gang attire, adhering to Amon's brand of discipline, which meant no phones, no devices and absolute obedience. It was like being back in the Academy.

“So, tomorrow’s thing. You going?” The brunette opposite him asked.

“No,” Iroh shook his head. “Guarding the fort.”

“Coward,” she said, dealing the cards again.

“Tell that to the boss.”

The bald man beside him eyed him. “You’re weird. Why you even here bro?”

Iroh put down a card. The other younger man nudged him. “For the girl right? That’s what I heard.” He winked. The rumours had gotten around fast and Iroh stuck out like a sore thumb. His features were not exactly average. “Asami Sato,” he drawled the name out.

The bald man scowled. “Wait what. How’s he got dibs?” Behind them, the crowd cheered again. The stakes were high. The loser had to take the late shifts. “I want that broad too.” Iroh raised his eyebrows and laid his cards down. “Take turns eh?”

“I don’t think so.” He scooped up his earnings. “Deal again.”

“Aw. Guess you’re really afraid then,” the bald man sensed he was onto a sore topic and pressed on. “Once she gets a feel of this dragon, she’ll be begging--” He didn’t get to finish. In a flash, he was sprawled on the floor.

“I don’t think so.” His knuckles probably hurt more than that nitwit’s face. Not to be outdone, the bald man came leaping back with a roar, almost successfully headbutting him in the nose. Iroh rolled onto his back and tossed the man with his own momentum.

“Break it up,” Shin shouted. “You’re wanted.” He jerked his head. Iroh stood and followed as the other man lay dazed against the wall. “Nice throw,” Shin commented.

“Thanks,” he said. They entered the room next door. Amon was seated in front of a table, an electronic map of Republic City projected before him. Iroh sat down.

“Tomorrow night, I’ll be having a very special meeting over here,” Amon said, tapping a spot on the map. “Shin will head the internal security, you will co-ordinate the security along the perimeter.” Amon drew a square with his finger.

Iroh nodded. Amon laced his fingers on the table top.

“So, Iroh. Having seen the news, what do you think of our progress?”

“It’s good, sir.”

“You misunderstand, Iroh. I’m looking for an opinion.”

Iroh blinked. “You could have all the men and women in the Old Town gangs, and you still wouldn’t be able to take on the police and the private forces together. They will crush you,” he said carefully. “I would caution against aggression.”

“You are referring to the Sato’s personal army,” Amon replied. “I’ve heard rumours of their size and power, but they don’t worry me. You shouldn’t look _that_ surprised. I’ve planned well for them.” He slapped his palm on the map and hit the hard table. “I know that if I beat the Satos, I win Republic City. If I destroy them, I can destroy the city. Now,” Iroh couldn’t see his eyes, but he was sure Amon was staring unblinkingly straight at him. He was sitting upright, his posture taut. “Doesn’t that worry you just a little?”

He could feel Shin standing right behind him. “No sir,” Iroh answered as evenly as he could. “Not as long as you keep your bargain. I’m not even from the city. It can tank for all I care.”

“Asami Sato,” Amon changed the projection to a recent picture. “Look at that face. I may just keep her for myself.” Iroh didn’t move a muscle. Amon stood. “It’ll be best if you keep your revenge in mind, Iroh. I was notified that the man from last week’s rally survived. And so did the two men from months ago. I’ll keep my end of the bargain, if you keep yours and do your job properly. Have a nice day.”

* * *

 

Asami glanced around surreptitiously. No one was home except her. There was not much to fear. She turned on her laptop as she sipped her tea, imported all the way from the Fire Nation. There were no important or incriminating emails available again, just the usual boring meeting schedules. Her eye caught a notification. A sixteenth video was being downloaded. She plugged in her earphones and opened the file. Watching these videos had become almost like a self-inflicted torture for her. Asami knew she was responsible for these experiments, however indirectly. It was a very unique and masochistic punishment for herself. 

She almost dropped her cup. The woman in the video was Tekki. Only, she wasn’t strapped down. She was standing in the loose white shift they wore in experiments.

“Lift this.” She lifted the boulder without any trouble and shifted it a few paces. So she was an earthbender. Asami frowned.

“Try this.” A masked scientist carried on a pail of water. Tekki focused, and then, lifted her knee and arm, her limbs trembling. Half the water rose out of the pail. Asami gasped. She brought her knee down and pushed forward with her fist. The water shot out. There was a tearing sound and a sharp yell. Someone heavy hit the floor at an awkward angle. The crack was audible in the video.

“Hey!” The voice said, irritated but not horrified. “He was a good worker!”

“Sorry,” the computer beeped. Asami glanced down. Something else was being downloaded. Asami narrowed her eyes and opened it. It was just a black screen. Another beep. Her anti-virus was triggered and shut down as the virus averted its attempts to control it.

“Oh shit shit shit,” she forced closed the program and disconnected from the internet. By then it was too late. All the files in the folder had been deleted. Asami just sat on the floor stunned. She’d been found out, and if there was a tracker on the file and it was faster than she was, Hiroshi would also know who had been spying on him. Pre-emptive measures must be taken. She was no longer certain what sort of man her father was. It was time to call Mako.

She dialled his personal number, not the company phone. He picked up on the second ring. “Hello?”

“Mako?”

“Yes boss?”

“I have another target for you.”

“Who?”

She took a deep breath. “Hiroshi Sato.”

Mako went absolutely silent. The only indication that he was still on was the soft breathing. “Asami? Is everything alright?”

“No. No it’s not. Why do you think I’m doing this?”

Mako hesitated. “I can’t. It’s illegal.” Asami’s heart fell.

“Everything you do is illegal,” Asami countered.

“No. There’s Republic City ‘illegal’ and then there’s the Hiroshi version of ‘illegal’. It’s in my contract. I can’t spy on Hiroshi Sato. He’ll have my head.”

“He won’t know.”

“He will. Because Bolin is good at what he does and I will not hurt my brother. Sorry, Asami. If there’s anything else at all,” Mako trailed off. “I’m worried about you Asami.”

“You and me both.”

“Maybe you should step down. You were much happier when you weren’t my boss,” Mako murmured.

“I think it’s too late, Mako. Just…don’t go anywhere. I need you.”

* * *

 

Asami hesitated in front of the study door. It was close to midnight and Korra was still inside doing work. She knocked.

“Yes?” Korra unlocked the door and it slid open.

“Future Industries is having a dinner party next week. I need to go with my plus-one. Will you…will you come?” Asami hated the hesitation in her voice. The old Asami would have just ordered her to do it.

“If that’s what you want,” Korra offered. That irked Asami.

“What do _you_ want?”

Korra rather accurately read Asami’s tone to a T. She clenched and unclenched her fists. “I want to know that you trust me,” she replied firmly. Her gaze was focused and stern, her voice fierce.

“I trust you.”

“Sure.”

“In that case,” Asami crossed her arms. If she wanted to fight, Asami could fight. “What were you doing on the cliffs?”

“Am I not allowed to go wherever I want?”

“And the man? Why then lie about it?” Korra paused. Ahah. Asami didn’t wait for an answer. “It’s okay,” she growled. “You can do whoever you want.”

“He’s a friend.”

“If you say so,” she turned to leave.

Korra narrowed her eyes. “You’re possessive and insecure.” Asami almost flinched. It used to be that she could have a shitty day at work and come home to the comfort and security of Korra’s arms. Having her insecurity called out by Korra made her furious. “I have friends. Deal with it. If you can’t get over it, you can go to the party alone.”

“I’ll take Mako. He’ll be a much better partner anyway,” she spat. Oh, she hadn’t meant to say that.

Kora looked really, properly, angry now. “That’s not what you said the last time we f—” Asami slammed the door shut and strode away.

* * *

 

Amon had chosen a large warehouse as the meeting point. He had big plans for the next few months, and all the big gangs had been invited to hear him out. Iroh had with him some of Amon’s best men.

“Is it clear?” Shin was up on the roofs, covering the angles and watching his back.

“Yes,” Iroh said into the mic. His helmet was tight and uncomfortable, but Amon had ordered for them to be fully armoured up. There was no telling who would be interested in disrupting the meeting.

The first Satomobile pulled up. The first boss was here, accompanied by ten men. Half of them stayed outside and the other five followed him in. The second came in an armoured van. The thugs, armed and armoured, escorted their boss into the building. This went on and on until all eight of them had arrived. That made nine in total, plus Amon.

“That’s all of them,” Iroh said.

“Understood. Begin your patrols. Make sure no one gets into fights.”

There were several extra thugs who had been left outside the warehouse. Iroh ignored them, gesturing to Amon’s people. They widened their patrol. The warehouse sat in the middle of a spacious abandoned lot, bordered on the sides by rows of dilapidated buildings.

Iroh started walking around. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw one of the Triple Threat heckling a woman. “Back off,” he growled. “She’s on patrol.”

“Yeah?” he said. He poked Iroh in the chest. He was tall and lean and moved in a blur. Stupid neohumans, Iroh thought. He was also clearly drunk.

“You want to be responsible if something bad happens huh? You want to explain to Zenai? He’ll string you up on a flagpole,” Iroh growled.

“You shut up,” he said again and swung his fist. Iroh ducked and smacked him with his stun baton. The neohuman jerked and fell backwards.

His friends stepped forward, hissing and cracking their knuckles.

“Fancy your chances?” Iroh taunted. By now, all his people had gathered around and they had the numbers advantage. Not only that, but the extras from the all the other gangs had gathered around to watch. “Don’t start something you can’t finish.” He swung the baton like a pro. No guns, and he could still resolve this peacefully.

They mumbled something, and backed off. Iroh let them go without another word and resumed his patrol.

“No help?”

“I was watching. It was very entertaining,” Shin answered.

“Switch?”

“No. Keep going.” Iroh cursed. He would much rather be on the roofs. He marched around and decided to check on his men on the outer perimeter. Iroh ducked into a smaller alley.

“Everything good here?”

“Yes sir,” they said. They were hidden watchfully among the houses.

He took a sharp turn through the winding alleys. It was pitch black, but he could see well–enough through his visor. He wasn’t supposed to be so far out, but it was nice to have some alone time. Nothing too terrible would happen tonight. Anyone who cared had been paid off. He peered around the corner. There was something glinting in his visor. Wait. He recognized it. Wasn’t that—

“Iroh? Report back at once.” Shin ordered through the microphone.

“Coming.”

“Now. Run.”

Iroh reluctantly sprinted back to the warehouse. The bosses were walking out. Six of them, plus Amon.

“Where’s Zenai?” The tall man yelled.

“Only seven?” Iroh whispered. “Where is Zenai?”

“In the warehouse.”

“He’s not leaving?”

“Kinda hard to move without his brains.”

“What?!”

“Same with Kesin. She’s a little less…together though. Keep their remaining people subdued.”

Nobody answered the tall man. Iroh watched as understanding dawned on their features and they rushed towards the warehouse. None of them thought to pull a weapon on the others. Potential disaster averted, Shin emerged a moment later. “It’s like a slaughterhouse in there,” he commented. “Don’t go in.”

“Didn’t intend to,” they got into their assigned car. “Did the meeting go well?”

Shin nodded. "The city's in for a surprise."

Iroh leaned back in his seat with a deep, shuddering breath.


	10. Chapter 10

_PRESENT DAY_

_Shing shkkt._

Iroh lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. He fiddled with a knife in in its sheath. It was 4a.m. The whole floor was quiet. There were no sounds of talking people or walking feet. If he wanted to make a move, he would have to do it now. He tried to weigh his options. He hadn’t slept well this past month. He kept looking and searching for more evidence, but he couldn’t find any. Nonetheless, he was certain of what he saw, in that one dark alley on that night. Reluctantly, Iroh sat up in bed. Damn Asami Sato, Iroh thought, and damn himself for being Mr. Good-guy-bodyguard. Sooner or later he must make a move. And today would be that day. The longer he waited, the more things would spiral out of control. At least now he knew the answer to all his questions.

Quietly, he pulled on his boots and armed himself. He pulled on his helmet and his plated gloves. Leave nothing to chance. He tucked as much ammunition into his pockets as he could. Once they knew where he went or what he knew, they would be hot on his trail. The car downstairs was prepped, a battered old Cabbage Corp car on its last hundred miles.

Iroh opened the door slowly. The corridor was clear. He headed for the lift.

“You’re up early.” Shin appeared from around the corner, blocking the doors.

“Going out,” Iroh said.

“That’s a lot of weapons for a fun night out,” Shin remarked. “Most guys I know only bring one gun to the party.” There were two more people with him, a man and a woman. “You won’t mind if we join you then?”

Spirits, Iroh was sick of his crude jokes. “Sure,” he said slowly. “Feel fre—” Faster than the eye could blink, he drew his pistol and shot from the hip. Two shots, the two thugs went down easy. Shin had saved himself by crouching quickly and firing back. Iroh threw himself to the wall just as a bullet zinged past and embedded itself into the far wall.

Quick draw and fast fingers. Iroh squeezed off another shot as he lunged towards Shin. Both their next attempts went wide. Iroh dropped his pistol and pulled his knife. The blade was glowing red hot. It would slice through anything. Shin attempted to aim again. Iroh slashed off the barrel of the gun.

“Now you’re talking,” Shin grunted and pulled his own knife. Iroh was the best knife fighter in the New Town. In the Old Town, he couldn’t be sure. Iroh punched and he dodged. Shin executed a beautiful high kick, catching Iroh on the chin. He stumbled backwards and twisted enough to block the next kick aimed at his balls. He struck back, the knife flashing in the dull light. Shin evaded him easily and delivered a blow of his own. Iroh felt the knife cut painfully into his shoulder and grunted.

It was no good. There was too much noise. The others would wake up soon and he could not afford to be delayed. Iroh jabbed forward with the knife and as Shin stepped back to avoid it, his other hand shot out. Iroh pushed forward, punching full force with his shoulder and his hip. Shin looked smug. He was out of reach.

A roaring pillar of fire streamed out from Iroh’s fist, engulfing his opponent. Too late, Shin could only watch in surprise the fireball hit him smack in the chest. His shirt began to burn, along with the wallpaper. He’d only learnt firebending well as part of his upbringing in the Fire Nation and he didn’t advertise it. People in the New Town tended to neglect bending as a whole.  

“Oops,” Iroh whispered as he rushed into the elevator. He had to go before the alarm sounded.

* * *

 

Iroh sped down the streets and up onto the highway leading back to the New Town. The other cars were following closely behind him. This was not the plan. He turned right into a wide street. There was a stocky woman standing in the middle of the street. She was short, with black hair and looked vaguely familiar. Iroh gunned the engine. He felt the car lift off the ground, and with a quick blast, he jumped out of the roof just as the stone rose out of the road and smashed into the car.

It’s been some time since he last fought a bender. And the first rule of fighting an earthbender is never to stand still for too long. He leapt towards her, firing his rifle. She dodged and weaved, all the while coming closer. She punched him in the chest. It was like running into a car. Iroh flew backwards and rolled on the highway, coughing. A bender and a neohuman. If he had taken that on the chin, he’d be out cold right now.

Never stay still. He staggered to his feet and tried to breathe as he ran towards the edge of the road. He’d only tried this once before, several years ago. Iroh broke into a flat out sprint as a boulder dropped where he’d just been. He leapt off the highway, moving subtly to ignite jets of fire at his feet. If he couldn’t drive, he would just have to fly.

* * *

 

Asami’s eyes snapped open. It was Saturday morning. Very early in the morning, in fact. Korra padded quietly around the room, and then the door swung shut. Asami stepped out of bed, peering around the door. Korra was carrying a large duffel bag. So after a couple of weeks, Korra just couldn’t stay away. She snorted. Things had almost returned to normal after their last fight. They’d both pretended that it hadn’t happened.

“Going somewhere?”

“Meeting with friends,” Korra said. “If that’s okay.” Of course it would be okay. Asami didn’t want to be that girl, building her case on false accusations. After all, what proof did she have?

“Of course,” Asami replied, her smile sickeningly sweet. If she wanted to know more, she knew how and where to get it.

Asami took her mini-power drill set, screwing the top of the lock. She took one of the wires and clipped her wrist device to it. The system was easily by-passed and the lock clicked open. Tentatively, Asami opened the box.

There was a smaller, more ornate wooden box inside. Asami lifted it out slowly and opened it. There were pictures. Actual printed old polaroid pictures, of Korra kissing another girl on the cheek. The second photo had Korra with a man on the Blackstone Bridge, arms wrapped around each other, this time in printed in colour. In disbelief, Asami laid all the pictures out.

There were six individuals in these photos. Most of them were close-up shots and Asami could see very clearly that it was Korra. She looked exactly the same as she did now. The photos…she actually bothered to print the photos on paper. Asami growled. The easiest evidence to dispose of. There was a small tied bundle of letters in the box. Asami wrestled out the last page on the stack, tearing it under the tight cross of cable ties. Her suspicions were confirmed.

“I love you and I miss you all the time…?” she read. “Yours always, Korra??!” She recognized the handwriting too. She scrunched it up, hot tears appearing in her eyes. She was done.

Asami was seated on the steps of the apartment when Korra arrived home.

“Asami?” she asked. Uncertainty flickered across her features.

“What are these?” Asami stood up and shoved the picture in her face. She watched as a reel of emotions played on Korra’s face. “And this,” Asami slapped the second one to her chest. “I am done with you. I am so –”

“Did you just break into my safe?” Korra demanded. “Did you just break my lock?” She looked far angrier than Asami had ever seen her. She was livid and Asami felt just that little bit of satisfaction. “You violate my privacy and follow me around, _tracking_ me like an animal! You’re a fine one to talk about trust!”

“And it was justified! Going out on weekends to meet your strange men! Cheating behind my back, screwing all these sluts,” Asami lowered her voice. They were beginning to attract attention. “So what was it you wanted huh? My money, my body?” Asami growled, though she knew all those were expendable. She’d given Korra much more than that. Korra made no attempt to interrupt her or to defend herself.

“I should never have trusted you. I loved you!” Asami held back her tears and thrust the rest of the pictures at Korra. The wind swept some away onto the pavement before Korra could catch them. She spun on her heels and marched into the garage. She started up the car and roared out. She didn’t care where she was going. She just needed to get away from here.

As she zoomed past, she could see Korra on her knees, scrambling for the pictures on the floor. She looked in her mirror. Korra leapt back into her Satomobile, swerving down the lane behind her. What in Vaatu’s name was she doing. Asami narrowed her eyes. If she wanted to chase, she would get the chase.

* * *

 

_NOW._

When she was younger, a riptide has once flushed her out to sea. She’d been rescued by her father’s people moments later, but it taught her a lesson. They were always in the mercy of nature. Still, the panic that she had felt was nothing compared to the panic that now seized her.

The Satomobile hit the water hard. Asami grazed her head painfully against the dashboard as she slammed into the front of the car. She struggled with the door. The car was sinking quickly and the door was unmovable against the water. Asami wrapped her sleeve around fist and punched the window. It didn’t budge. Stupid reinforced glass. The entire car was submerged now. She had to get out. Asami gritted her teeth and struck the glass repeatedly. Fear fuelled her actions and she was rewarded with a crack. And then another. She finally hit the glass so hard it shattered.

A torrent of cold water smacked her against the far door. The car was still sinking and sinking. Asami tried to move, but she couldn’t. There was too much water pouring in. She held her breath. After a long while, the car filled up and Asami began to swim. It was pitch black and her breath was running out. Spots were appearing in front of her eyes as she put on hand before the other, pulling futilely towards the surface. She was going dizzy.

Her breath wouldn’t hold out. Just a little further. Asami opened her mouth involuntarily, and took a deep breath of water. She choked, convulsed and allowed the darkness to claim her.

* * *

 

Iroh looked about anxiously. He had managed to get back to the New Town and lost his pursuers. With the police around, they wouldn’t dare try anything too overt. They would be skulking around just like he was. He had landed somewhere at the edge of the city and was forced to trek across town on foot.

He still had his two knives, one more pistol and his semi-automatic, hidden on his back. He had no money and no identification, and he’d thrown his helmet somewhere along the way. All in all, he’d been pretty lucky. Iroh hurried down the avenue. The houses here were all fabulously extravagant and the patrols were often. He couldn’t linger about for too long or risk getting picked up by the police. Without any ID, he would be in jail for at least one long and cold night. At long last, he stopped outside his destination: the Sato Mansion.

He approached the watchman, praying that he recognized him. “I’m here to see Ms. Sato.”

“Iroh!” The woman said, lowering her gun and clapping him on the back. “What are you doing here?”

“I need to speak with Asami,” Iroh said.

“She’s moved out,” the watchman replied.

“Mr. Sato then?”

The watchman retreated and called the house. He hoped his past here would be sufficient in granting him an audience. The woman reappeared. “Go on in, Mr. Sato is waiting for you in the lobby. He sounded very concerned.”

Iroh ran up the steps and into the lobby where the plump man was indeed awaiting his arrival. He felt a surge of warmth just being in that familiar high-ceilinged room. Nobody crossed the Satos. Here, he would be safe.

“Iroh?” Hiroshi greeted him, puzzled.

“Mr. Sato,” Iroh said in a rush, tumbling over his words. “I have news for you. Important information. The Benders in Old Town—”

“Seize him.”

It took Iroh a split second to register the order, and by then, it was too late. Assailants set upon him from behind. He sent plumes of fire around him, but one of them was a waterbender and doused his efforts. They seized him by the arms and forced him to the floor. “What?” he spluttered.

“How fortunate that Asami was not around to receive you,” Hiroshi said. “And how unfortunate that you are the Firelord’s son. You would have been so expendable otherwise. I suppose the next best option is to lock you up.”  Hiroshi struck a pose and Iroh watched, wide-eyed as a stone the size of an orange lifted off ground.

“How…how?” It smacked him straight in the temple and Iroh crumpled to the floor.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thank you so much for your kudos and comments! It's almost done!

Asami was strapped to a hard stone chair. She couldn’t move a single finger. There was a florescent light high above her, but for some reason, it was dark all around. She tried to move her neck, but couldn’t.

“Well look at this little bitch.” Tekki’s cold voice sent chills down her spine. The woman leaned over her, her eyes dead and soulless. “Poor little girl,” Asami began to choke. Not enough air.

“Please,” she whimpered.

“Begging? Really?” Hiroshi’s face appeared on her other side. “I am disappointed. I raised you to be better.” Her father held up a silver scalpel. “Now try not to scream.”

She opened her mouth, and felt a familiar callused palm over her mouth. “Korra?” she mumbled.

Korra loomed over her. She was dressed in Water Tribe clothes, just like the first day they’d met. Her eyes were glowing white, hair floating in the windless room. “Shhh,” Korra said, pressing her hand down on her mouth. “Cabbage Corp cars. Cabbage Corp car.”

“Mmmph?” Asami mumbled.

“It’s not a Satomobile,” Korra said. “It’s a—”

Asami jerked awake and coughed. Two warm arms cradled her body. They were in the bay, speeding over the water towards shore. All around them, the storm was in full force. The strong winds whipped at their protective bubble and the water churned at her feet. Instinctively, Asami clutched tighter at her rescuer.

“Don’t panic,” Korra said. Yeah, sure. She actually did feel exceptionally safe in Korra's arms. Nonetheless, Asami released her hold on her. “If you want to be mad at me, you can do so when we’re on shore.”

"Did you just pull me..."

"Yeah."

"Thank you," Asami said awkwardly. “You’re dry,” she commented.

“I am a waterbender. Is that a surprise?” Korra replied curtly.

Korra carried her the remaining distance and set her on the sandy beach. Nobody else was about as lightning sparked from the heavy clouds. She lay on the beach as Korra sat beside her and watched the twisted ends of the bridge sway and break.

“Do you happen to know anyone who wants you dead? Because the Blackstone Bridge inexplicably just collapsed,” Korra said at last. “You’re lucky to be alive.”

“Is that your professional opinion?” Asami answered as she crawled onto her knees. Everything was bruised. Her hand was the worst, and most likely broken.

 “Are you still mad at me?”

“Yes,” Asami said with a huff as she staggered to her feet, crossing her arms. “Very. Why?”

“Huh?”

“Why did you cheat? Was I not enough? Did I not pay enough attention to you?” Each question carried little malice as it was accompanied by a pant as she took a break on her feet. She had precious little energy to be angry at Korra. She did what she did. It was all in the past. She had a pressing feeling that she had to worry about the future. 

Korra stared her in the eye. Eventually, she took a deep breath and said, “Yes, I have secrets. I have things I’m not telling you, but I did not cheat, Asami Sato. I have never cheated on you.”

“Hmph,” Asami snorted as she trudged up towards the roads. She stumbled.

“Here, let me help,” Korra offered.

“I don’t need your help. I don’t need you, or anybody else,” Asami gasped.  “All of you bastards. Played me…for a fool.”

“Look at yourself, Asami. Why would I?” Korra yelled from behind.

“Tell yourself whatever you need to sleep at night,” Asami flung back.

“I love you,” Korra said and Asami had to force herself to keep walking.

* * *

 

“Thanks for letting me stay here,” Asami said. “Mako’s not home?”

“Nope, but he said you’re always welcomed.” Bolin remarked, very comfortable in his shorts and undershirt. Their home was small. Two separate bedrooms for each one, a living room with an old couch and a tiny kitchen situated just next to the door. “Anything for the newly single. No wine though. Beer?” Asami made a face but took the bottle in her non-bandaged hand. Bolin gestured at her hand. “Violent break-up?”

“Not so much,” Asami answered.

“You know, most people I know would be a crying mess,” Bolin started. “If there’s anything you want to talk about, I would be delighted to listen.”

“Most people you know aren’t me,” Asami shot back. “And I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Okayyyy…” Bolin drawled, switching on the television.

“Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”

“Mr. Sato gave me the day off,” Bolin replied, settling into the couch. Asami sat beside him dressed in an old shirt and shorts of his. Her wet clothes were in the washing machine. The only thing she managed to hold on to was her waterproof phone and her all-important wrist device. “So what are you going to do now?”

She had to buy another car, rent another apartment and move her things out. Asami also had to ask her father was going on, in the most non-threatening way possible. Nothing had happened in the one month since her spy program had been discovered, but then again, she had hardly seen him about. And the business with the Cabbage Corp and Satomobiles. What if, Asami dared to entertain the thought; somebody knew that she could track Satomobiles used Cabbage Corp cars purposefully to get around that? It started around the time Iroh resigned, and since she’d gotten D’aili, she had not seen them around. Asami had assumed she was simply not actively looking for them anymore, but perhaps that was not the case. And D’aili…who’s side was she on? The list of people who knew about the tracking abilities was absurdly short. Why would her father want to keep such a close eye on her? Asami closed her eyes and took a deep, calming breath. First, though, she wanted to forget about it all. She refused to sit around and mope.

“Come on,” she said. “I can’t be seen in public like this. I need new clothes, and then we’re going out. Let’s have fun.”

* * *

 

It was dark in the club. Lasers whirled overhead as the DJ dropped the beat and the crowd cheered. This was really not their usual scene. The music was obnoxiously loud, the people disgustingly sweaty and lewd. There were topless men and women dancing on the poles strewn around the club. Bolin was three paces away, dancing with a cute girl in pumps. Asami herself was tipsy, grinding up against some cute guy with a hot body. His hands were starting to stray cautiously, and for some reason, that upset her. It wasn’t the bruises either. What she needed was another shot, she decided. She got two from the bar. One to do the trick and one for insurance. She gulped both of them down and went back.

The guy was really feeling it, his hands moving and touching with more confidence. Asami closed her eyes and tried to concentrate. Korra appeared again in her mind, her smile, her body. She couldn’t get rid of her. Well, she’d just have to try harder.

“Bathroom?” she breathed.

He wasted no time pulling her into the toilet and pinning her against the wall. The whole place was filthy, but she tried not to care. “You sure?” he asked.

How cute. “Yes,” Asami replied as she shoved thoughts of Korra out of her mind. The guy was a good kisser too. She just, really wasn’t feeling it.

“You sure?” he said again. “You don’t really seem so—”

“Just shut up and get going,” Asami advised. His lips trailed down her neck as his hands roved her body. Her low-cut shirt was swiftly unbuttoned, her skirt hiked up. It felt nothing like Korra—

“ASAMI!” Her eyes flew open. Bolin was standing at the door to the bathroom. He marched forward. “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like?”

“In a toilet in a second grade club?” Bolin glared at the stranger.

“Hey dude! Her idea,” he said.

“Cockblock,” Asami slurred.

“You’ll thank me for this tomorrow,” Bolin muttered. “Sorry dude. Not your day.” He took her by the wrist and led her out of the club and into the warm summer night. It was still drizzling a little. “What are you doing? How much have you had? I thought you said fun, not like, I’m-going-to-regret-this fun,” he said as he pulled her shirt close in an effort to regain her modesty.

“I don’t know, Bolin, I don’t know,”

Bolin sighed. “I’m going to take you home.”

“No, no. We’ve only just got here,” Asami felt some semblance of shame. “Just call me a cab. I can go home on my own. You should keep having fun.”

“I insist,” Bolin said. “Mr. Sato would never forgive me.”

“That’s his problem,” Asami retorted. “Right now, I say you have fun and I go home.”

She must have seemed mostly sober. Bolin reluctantly packed her into one of the waiting cabs, typed his address into the autodrive and handed her the key. “Call me when you get home safely,” Bolin instructed as the cab peeled away into the city.

* * *

 

Asami stepped out of the elevator. She was carrying her new heels in one hand, a little more sober. Her eyes were puffy and red from crying over…she didn’t really know what she was crying over either. The whole matter was a little twisted ball of misery. She put the key in the lock and entered, flicking on the light switch.

“Don’t move.” Four masked figures in black were standing in the living room, guns trained on her.

Asami moved. She jumped into the kitchen and scrambled behind a row of counters. They were going to find her, but all she needed were three seconds. Asami pressed the panic button on her wrist device and slipped it into her bra. The rattle of boots came into the kitchen.

One figure edged around the corner and before Asami could react, her whole body froze. Her vision turned brighter and brighter until it all faded in a whitewash.

If she’d guessed wrong, she would be dead. If she’d guessed right, these were her father’s men. And if they were, they would be in no hurry to frisk the boss’ daughter.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for your kudos and your comments! Getting close to the ending, hope nothing disappoints (too much) xD

Asami came to in a high-ceilinged cavernous room with stone walls on two sides. Benches and tables were lined in rows in the room, as well as a series of computers. She was strapped to a soft, flat bed in the middle of the room. Another set of computers were installed to one side with a few complicated looking machines. Unlike her dream, the room was brightly lit.

“You’re up.” Hiroshi Sato stood at her side, his face covered in shadows as he looked down at her.

Asami growled and struggled.

“I gave you every opportunity to prove yourself, to join us, and you have failed at every turn. I am disappointed, Asami.” He adjusted his spectacles.

“Ugh! Let me go!”

“Fortunately, I had already expected your disobedience. You never were the child I expected you to be. I gave you every privilege and you threw it away drinking and sleeping around the town, slipping up in the business. I can make you better. First, I think, some upgrades are in order.” With the sweep of his hand he pointed out the machines. “I think some bending upgrades might help. I’d tell you about it, but you already know all about it don’t you?”

“Sick freak!”

“And maybe a more docile and compliant disposition will help. That can be facilitated with certain drugs.”

Asami swore then, calling him the worst names she could conjure on the spot. A vulgar inspiration hit her. “Mom is better dead than with a man like you,” she yelled.

Hiroshi’s hand pressed against her throat, choking her. “Don’t you dare talk about your mother that way!” he shouted in her face. “We were made to rule this city Asami, but you could never see it. I’m going to do it. With Tekki’s help, it’s finally possible.”

“Tekki?!”

“Yes, the beauty of my solution. I will provide the arms and she will provide the army I need to take down city hall. And when this is over, I’ll dispose of those street urchins. It’ll be easy.”

“The police—”

“Are nothing. You’ve wonderfully helped to sell a great deal of weapons to them, all of which will mysteriously be dysfunctional in a few minutes. We’ve blown up the bridge. Help will not be coming anytime soon from our neighbours. This is a revolution,” Hiroshi explained smugly. “When a city is as corrupt as ours, how can you expect me, the sole, courageous businessman, to stand aside?” Hiroshi checked his watch. “Some of my people will come in later to prep you for the procedure. Do try and be helpful. I have a meeting I simply can’t miss.” He straightened his shirt and put on his suit jacket. “And if you even think about doing anything funny, think about her.” Hiroshi moved aside.

Asami gasped. “What have you done to her?” Korra lay on a bed similar to hers. Unlike her however, Korra was gagged and muzzled, her arms restrained by a straitjacket. Her legs were chained together by old-school manacles. “What are you _afraid_ of?”

Hiroshi shrugged. “Those were some very specific conditions in my deal with my partners.”

“Let me go!” Asami yelled as Hiroshi stepped through the door. “I am your daughter!”

“You were,” he said. “And you will soon be good enough for that role.” The heavy doors slid shut behind him. Two guards remained standing at attention by the doors. She would not be getting out of here without help.

* * *

 

There was no telling how much time had passed. Asami stayed awake for what felt like hours, just waiting. No one came. Eventually, she dozed off, only reawakening when the door open to reveal two technicians.

“Ms. Sato. We will need you to change into this gown,” one of them held out a white gown. “You can co-operate and change on your own, or we can change your clothes for you. Your choice.”

“I’ll co-operate,” Asami said hastily. One technician pressed a button and the buckles popped open. The two guards took aim at her with their pistols. “Alright.” She turned around slowly until her back faced them. She undid the buttons as best she could with her injured hand. She slipped out her wrist device and pressed the panic button repeatedly. That was all she could do for now. She undressed, and then pulled on the simple white shift, dropping the device with the rest of her clothes on the floor and kicking it under the bed.

“Back on the bed,” the guard said menacingly.

“Okay, okay.” She lay down before they lost their patience. The technician grabbed the straps and brought it tightly over her body. They attached some sensors to various areas of the body, while muttering to themselves and typing on the computer. When that was done, they left.

“Now what?”

“Shut up.” Okay, she could do that. Asami glanced over at Korra. She was still asleep. They must have given her a tranquilizer or something of that sort. She stared at the ceiling. Where was Mako?

* * *

 

Iroh pushed hopelessly against the door. He was stuck in a small empty room. His hands were cuff, but they had at least spared his legs. He had tried kicking the door. The lock wouldn’t budge.

They had driven him for some distance blindfolded in a car, and then dumped him in this room and locked the door behind them. He was probably currently in the R&D facility outside of Republic City. He lay down with his ear at the bottom of the door. Every time somebody walked past, he would holler and bang on the door. That was bound to get some attention. Eventually, some innocent soul would pass by and let him out. Hopefully.

Iroh winced as the bruise on his jaw came into contact with the floor. That was some incredible tech Hiroshi had. If Hiroshi was in league with the Benders, it would explain why Amon wasn’t afraid of him.  Together…they could take the city. They really could. The only problem was that he knew Amon and Shin. He knew how they worked and how they thought. They were crazy extremists, and there was no way he would consent to work with Hiroshi as partners. Future Industries was already compromised, and Hiroshi Sato would sooner or later be betrayed. Hiroshi liked to think that he was crafty but he was an amateur compared to Amon.

Iroh’s stomach growled. He was hungry, and if they forgot about him, he was going to die of thirst. He heard the faint squeak of boots on the corridor outside. The person was trying to be quiet, but because of the material of the floor, it was almost impossible. Iroh thumped the door with his shoulder.

“Help me! Help!”

He took a second for a quick breath. Surprisingly, the footsteps came nearer. “Help!” he yelled again.

“Alright, just shut up,” came the muffled reply.

“Bolin? What are you doing here?” Iroh asked in amazement.

“Long story. Stand clear.”

Iroh retreated to the far end of the room. There was a bang and the door slid open. Bolin stood outside, visor up. He was dressed in the Future Industries uniform and helmet and was fully armed with an assortment of weapons.

“What are you doing here?”

“Long story,” Iroh said, “but we need to get out of here quick.” The corridor he was on was pristine and white. It had to be the R&D labs. He started towards the lift.

“Wait, wait. I’m on a mission,” Bolin said, walking the other way.

“A mission?”

“I’m here to retrieve Asami Sato,” he said.

“From Future Industries? A few days ago I would have said you’re joking. But now,” Iroh rubbed his face. “I believe you. Hiroshi Sato is nuts.”

“You can tell me the story later. I’m on a tight deadline,” Bolin said seriously. “I received a panic button alert from her over an hour ago. Nobody else appeared to have responded, so I drove out from the city. I could use some back-up. Asami could be in some deep shit.”

“Of course.” Iroh didn’t even hesitate. Iroh pointed at his rifle. After some consideration, Bolin handed over a knife, a pistol and a semi-automatic, along with some ammo. He checked his gun and slipped the safety off. “Let’s go.”

* * *

 

Asami awoke again when the doors slipped open. Two people came in. One was dressed in the Future Industries uniform, the other in unfamiliar attire. Korra was finally awake too. She was struggling against her bonds, but they were proving too strong for her.

“Don’t worry,” Asami said. “It’ll be fine.” I hope, she added mentally. They stopped by the door, perhaps talking on their mic. One of them activated a hover trolley. She could see now that Korra wasn’t lying on a bed, but on a metal board. Together, the two of them, with the help of the two guards, shifted the metal board onto the trolley. “What do you want with her? Let her go!”

The trolley dipped a little under the weight. An unfamiliar fear clutched her heart. No, no, no. “I’ll kill you! If it’s the last thing I do! I’ll kill you!” she screamed. She would pay for her oversight and her bloody cowardice, but Korra shouldn’t have to suffer the consequences of her mistakes. Asami would do anything for her. Despite everything, Asami still loved her. That much suddenly became clear to her, just a little too late. She struggled against her restraints.

The lead figure was coming closer and stopped at her bedside. He stood and watched as she thrashed on the bed. He deliberately put his hand over her bandaged one, and then pushed down.

Asami yelled and cursed at the pain. He released his hand. “Look, you only need me,” she pleaded breathlessly. “Just let her go. I’ll do anything. Anything! Just let her go!”

“So even you can beg,” Mako raised his visor. “Hello.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey hey hey thanks again for your comments! Sincerely, from the bottom of my heart, thanks for keeping with this fic. Enjoy!

Asami recoiled. “Wh—” Mako stuffed a dirty rag into her mouth, interrupting her. She was too stunned to react much. “Finally the truth comes out.” Mako turned on the computer. “Man, if you knew how much I hated working for you. Mako do this, Mako do that, Mako jump out of bed at midnight and save my ass. Seriously,” he pulled a face. “You were whiny and annoying. It’s amazing you even made it this far.”

“I received your panic button alert in the middle of the night by the way. It was glorious to be able to cancel it and turn over and sleep.” he said, opening the browser. “I’m going to guess, the question is why? I’m from the Old Town, Asami. And you people disgust me. The amount of money you throw at people, the number of people you bribe and think you’re above it all. Well, you’re not. Future Industries is as dirty as an Old Town gang. As for retribution…take a look at this. I’ll play the whole video for you.”

Mako twisted the monitor towards her. Her curiosity made her look. It was the popular Republic City news site. The video started with a masked man standing in front of a shorter, plump man. They appeared to be discussing something in the large room. Hiroshi reached forward to shake his hand, when his body jerked. A spike of ice pierced through neck, red blood coating the tip. The guards went crazy. She could see guns drawn and fired as the ice slowly melted, leaving the body to slump to the floor in a puddle of blood.

“Mmmmph! HUGHH!” His companion raised her visor. It was Tekki. Asami surged against her restraints and Tekki chuckled mirthlessly.

“Hiroshi Sato went to meet them like a calf to slaughter,” he said. “For a potential victim of his, you seem to feel a lot for him.” Mako changed the site. The screen showed a live stream from Republic City. There were explosions and lights crisscrossing the streets. “The Benders will win,” Mako said. There was no return fire from the police, cowered behind their cover.

Her eyes slid over to Korra, who was watching the feed with wide eyes. “Her?” Tekki asked, seeing Asami’s gaze shift. “You don’t know?”

“She doesn’t,” Mako said. “I lied, and she never guessed.”

Tekki started to laugh, for real this time. “You are a terrible girlfriend, Asami.”

Her what? Asami wanted to scream.

Mako paused. There was a band and beep from the doors, and without warning, it slid open. There were two quick zaps and the two guards dropped. Tekki ducked behind the bed. Mako had drawn his blaster, finger on the trigger, but he froze.

“Mako?”

Bolin was crouched by the door, visor up, Iroh just behind him. She’d never been happier to see the both of them.

* * *

 

Iroh had never been happier to see Asami alive and well. The other two intruders, however, presented another problem. Iroh had expected it, but Bolin looked beyond shocked.

“What are you doing here?” Bolin asked. Mako didn’t reply. “Are you with them?”

“Look Bolin, I didn’t want you to get involved.”

“Well, I am involved.” They were in a very odd standoff, neither being very willing to shoot or to lower their guns. There were two enemy combatants and two hostages. It was quite a dicey situation. Mako was a firebender and a skilled marksman. He’d met the other woman before. She was an earthbender and a neohuman. He was roughly equal to Mako, and Bolin was an earth, metal and lavabender and a good marksman. They were about matched.

“How did you find us?”

“I received a panic button alert to this location,” Bolin replied slowly.

“But I—to this location? Dammit,” he swore. “They didn’t get rid of it.”

“Mako?” Bolin said. “Mako, what are you doing?”

“Retribution and progress, Bolin,” Mako replied. “Bolin? Put down the gun. You can always join us. Join the revolution.”

Iroh heard the squeak on the floor. He pushed Bolin through the doors and to the floor. The wall just behind them exploded. He scrambled to his feet and ducked behind a lab table as Mako loosed a shot at him. Bolin quickly followed. The gunshot sounded like thunder in the enclosed space.

D’aili had arrived and she was not on their side. Iroh cursed. Naturally, she would also have received the alert, and probably chose not to do anything until she realised that Bolin answered it. Her combustion powers would be very formidable. Asami sure knew how to pick them.

“Bolin? Come on!” Mako yelled from his cover behind the bedside machines. “Bolin?”

“Bolin?” Iroh asked.

“I…Mako is wrong. But, Iroh, I can’t just shoot my brother!” Bolin whispered, confused.

“Then what now?”

Bolin squeezed his eyes shut. “Let’s just try non-lethal. Please, Iroh. Anything is preferable to dead.”

“Okay,” Iroh took a deep breath. “I’m not gonna try and kill him, but we need to attack. We’ll lose if we just sit here against that lady.” They evaded the next blast from her. “Get rid of her first. If you can cover me, I can take the shot.”

“Sure.” Bolin raised a concrete wall and shoved it forward Mako. Iroh peeped from behind and shot with his pistol. Both shots went wide. Tekki shoved back, forcing the middle section to crumble. An explosion hit Iroh, forcing him to retreat behind the bench tables. Bolin cracked the stone, creating a path of lava towards them and forcing them back.

Iroh popped out from behind his hiding place. One shot. He squeezed the trigger just as she saw him. The resulting explosion tossed him off his feet and flattened him against the next table with a crack. Iroh groaned and tumbled to the floor. There were no follow-up attacks. He pushed himself to his feet. His left forearm was hanging at an awkward angle.  It didn’t hurt now, but it would hurt like crazy after this.

It was time to try and free somebody. They wanted Korra, so Korra would be first. He ran forward as Bolin kicked boulders at them. Tekki deflected every one of them. “Bolin, I need a lift!” He pointed upwards. He jumped high as Bolin bent the floor. Iroh shot a thin stream of fire. Sniper’s precision. It seared through the straps of Korra’s board. She struggled, twisted and rolled off the board onto the floor, falling with a dull clink.

Bolin’s distraction cost him. A block of concrete hit him in the stomach and he fell to the floor. Mako fired as Iroh dodged and pulled Bolin into the relative safety behind the computers.

“Ouch,” he gasped.

“Ribs?”

“Hopefully okay.”

Iroh spray a few shots towards them. Mako aimed and fired. Iroh felt the bullet punch into his shoulder muscle, just inches from his neck. “Urgh!” Iroh tossed his pistol.

Bolin fired with his rifle. Tekki dodged behind the bedside machines. Bolin dove, narrowly evading three huge shards of ice. “What?”

“She’s a waterbender too!”

“She’s both?” Just take it at that, Iroh reminded himself. He’ll wonder how it happened later. Iroh squeezed off several shots with his gun. With just one arm, his aim was atrocious. Bolin popped up again. A shard of ice pierced his upper arm. It was a fight of attrition. Bolin clutched his arm. Iroh burnt off some cloth, hastily tying it around the arm.  They moved along the row of tables. There was no cover between the first row and the row of bedside machines that Tekki and Mako were hiding behind.

“We have to finish this fast. Before more Future Industries guards come,” Bolin panted. “We’re not supposed to be here, and neither are they.”

Tekki and Mako appeared to have come to the same conclusion. They pulled a writhing Korra to her feet as Tekki raised a protective wall of concrete. Mako dragged her towards the door. “Bolin, break that wall!” Iroh dashed forward as the wall melted into lava. “Cover me!” Iroh jumped through the melting lava, singeing his clothes and hair. His glowing hot knife was out and dancing in the air, gashing Mako’s arm and forcing him back. He stabbed at Mako’s, chest, swerving at the last moment to hit him high in the shoulder. Tekki had her hands on her gun. Iroh lunged forward and slashed. She dropped the now-useless blaster. Iroh pirouetted, and praying he didn’t eviscerate her, he slashed through the straps of the straitjacket with his knife.

Korra’s arms burst free of the restraints. Tekki brought her pistol up to aim, but a rock flew at her face and cracked her visor. The shot going wide. Iroh brought his knife up again. Tekki was off-balance but where was Mako?

Iroh felt the pain tear through his chest before his ears even registered that blaster shot. He tipped over to his side and crashed to the ground.

* * *

 

Asami screamed soundlessly as Iroh fell with a gaping hole in his chest. Bolin took the chance and hit Tekki with a shot to her arm. She showed no signs of pain. Mako raised his blaster, finally, pointing at his brother.

A funnel of wind hit the both of them in the chest, driving them back. Korra was standing feet apart, hands raised. She looked crazy angry. The two halves of the old-school ankle cuffs lay smoking on the floor next to Iroh’s knife.

“Surrender,” Korra commanded. Asami had never seen this side of Korra before.

Mako loosed a quick shot with his blaster. Korra smacked him down with another jet of wind. Tekki stood up and bent a chunk of concrete. Korra knocked it away.

Air, earth and waterbending. Asami’s eyes went wide. No. No way.

Korra was a pro. She had never seen someone bend properly before. The flowing postures and the poses were beautiful, compared to the quick, sharp and practical bending styles they used nowadays. It was also obviously much more powerful – all of the bending from the others looked amateurish in comparison. “Free her,” Korra said. Bolin ran forward, using his knife to cut through her straps.

Tekki ditched her helmet and charged forward. Korra let her come. Tekki yelled and flailed with her fist. Korra shifted to the side. She deflected the punch and pushed Tekki’s head downward. It connected beautifully with a rising chunk of concrete. Tekki groaned and fell to the side. Korra threw a stone at her. She rolled groggily away and actually managed to stand. Stupid neohumans. Mako threw a fireball at her. Korra caught it and threw it back, his helmet caught fire and he tore it off.

There was an alert on the computer and the screen shifted. A security alert. Someone was trying to breach the compound. Asami pulled the gag from her mouth and tapped a button. There was a huge truck where the gate used to be and hordes of neohumans in the parking lot.

“Bolin, we need to kill their guns and bring the others back online. Future Industries can do that, but I need to be in my father’s office.”

“Go,” Korra said. “I’ll handle them.”

Asami didn’t even consider arguing. She picked up her wrist device and sprinted for the door after one last backward glance and Iroh's lifeless body. Bolin limped after her.

“Did you know?” Bolin asked as he reloaded his gun. Last weapon, last clip.

“I didn’t.”

“Could she really be—I thought he was supposed to be a guy, big and chunky-- that’s what the festival…”

“Well. Your guess is as good as mine.” In silence, they entered the elevator.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Halfway through this chapter, I suddenly realised how similar it is to Edward/Bella, but it was in the plan and I was already on my way to finishing it. Good God, I hope it doesn't sound creepy.

It’s nice to know that all those years hadn’t dulled her senses. She’d thought she lost her instincts after that attack by the river. In her prime, the thugs shouldn’t even have been able to touch Asami, even if she could use only waterbending. Though of course, she was compounded by her reluctance to use bending of any sort.

So, it was true that bending had gone downhill. She shouldn’t be surprised. Very few masters of the forms were presently alive. It was a dying art. It wasn’t like these people needed it either. They had their floating cars and their small planes, blasters, rifles and other gadgets for entertainment. It was a different world.

She had fought Amon, Unalaq, Zaheer and then Kuvira. It was only long after that that she slowly realised what was happening. She never aged. She couldn’t die. Something strange had happened, though it was difficult to pinpoint when. Maybe it was when she merged with Raava against Vaatu, or maybe when she absorbed the spirit energy and opened the portal against Kuvira. Kuvira herself lived a long life and died in her sleep in Zaofu, as did Jinora and Rohan. Korra outlived them all.

Korra became a recluse, then a hermit. Over the years of fights and struggle, she had come to a conclusion: she could not save humanity from itself. There were good people and bad people, and they must all fight their own battles. And look what they had managed to achieve. Republic City was a shining testament to the human will. As the power of bending waned from memory, so too did she. Korra fully and truly retired from the job of mopping up the messes she didn’t create.

She casually threw fireballs at the woman. She dodged behind a table. Mako was on her other side, trying to split her attention. Korra stomped the ground. Mako was thrown to the air and he jumped, trying to escape the rising concrete. Korra bowled him over with a jet of air. She ducked and rolled just as a bullet zinged past her from behind. She was lucky they were using bullets and not lasers. She could sense every one of them. She bent the stone around Mako’s legs. He wouldn’t be getting out of those.

The woman had thrown aside her empty gun. She ran forward, swinging like a boxing champion. Korra threw an uppercut with a flaming fist. The woman reeled back and winced. Her skin was burnt. She kicked wildly and hit Korra in the chest. Stupid neohumans. Her opponent followed the onslaught with a flurry of kicks and punches. Korra dodged, and the twirled. A stream of air smacked the woman hard in the face. She fought against it. Korra raised her fist and punched. A block of concrete flew forward, cracking her in the sternum. She coughed and dropped to her knees. Korra stamped the floor and the concrete enveloped her like a cocoon, leaving only her head exposed.

“Happy bending through that,” she said as she surveyed her work. She was a little stiff from the lack of practice.

The image of the Avatar, now hailed as a god-like mythical figure, gave her even less incentive to reappear. She moved to Republic City and settled down there. As the years went by, she began to feel odd.  As the years went by, their lives and matters seemed more and more insignificant. She could no longer form any meaningful human connections, knowing that they would die and she would still be here. It wasn’t for the lack of trying though. She’d try, but bail after a few years. There was no other way for her to keep the secret. Empires rose and fell, and still she was here. They were so far away, so small and so tiny, with their little fears and troubles, joys and triumphs.

Korra walked over to Iroh’s body and gently lifted him. He didn’t deserve to be left here with the trash. The Avatar was meant to be a source of balance but Korra had given up tipping the scales. That was until Asami Sato came into her life and knocked her out of her daze. 

* * *

 

Her father’s office was locked, but Bolin blew up the lock. They went inside and Asami started up the computer. The alarms were ringing throughout the building.

“Password?” it asked.

Asami connected her device and started to work. The program for the kill-switches was easy to find, but slightly harder to use. A majority of the guns were already offline. She switched off the rest. Hopefully, if the police had sufficient stock from other companies, they would be fine. Given enough time, she could figure out how to switch only the guns of her allies back on, but time was a luxury she didn’t have. Asami pulled out the live footage from the security cameras. The neohumans reached the lobby, which was defended bravely by the Future Industries private force. However, it was almost impossible to defend against a full bending onslaught, which Asami realised her father had helped to create.

In the lobby, there was a brief moment of confusion. Then, the neohumans rallied and charged. Asami had forgotten what neohumans could do in a fistfight. Apparently, they could literally rip your limbs off. Asami gagged. Not to be outdone, the private forces drew their knives and bayonets and fought back.

“We need to help them,” Asami said. She dashed off the chair and to the elevator, praying that it still worked.

“Where are we going?”

“This is the only place in the city where we could find Future Industries guns without the kill-switch. Like in the experimental labs, for example. We’re going to find the biggest, baddest gun and wipe the floor with them.”

* * *

 

Asami and Bolin shoved the hover trolley and its cargo down the narrow corridor towards the entrance. The fighting had separated into small pockets all over the enormous lobby. The ranks of the private army were dwindling. Asami suspected that if the neohumans weren’t blocking the only exit from the building, there would be far more deserters.

“Here?”

Bolin took a quick glance around the room. “Behind the receptionist’s desk. It’s marble. We’ve got good cover there. Let’s go!” Asami pushed the trolley out and ran behind the desk while Bolin distracted them with his bending. She pressed a button to elevate the base of the trolley, allowing the muzzle of the gun to rise above the desk. She locked the wheels and turned the weapon on. There were two handles at each the side and a tall sight that doubled as a protective plastic covering her face. Let’s see if this is as scary as it looks, she thought.

She grasped the two handles at the side and pressed the trigger.

The gun kicked back as the blasts spat around the room, clipping her intended target. Not bad. The gun handled most of the recoils, and the energy-based blasts meant it didn’t need any reloading until the battery was empty. This was going to be a piece of cake. The intruders had seen the new threat. They swerve towards her. Asami fired again. An earthbender raised a block of concrete, shielding his comrades. Uh-oh. One of them threw a fireball over the rocky shelf and Asami ducked.

“Bolin?”

“On it,” he punched forward, trying to break the defence with his one good arm. Maybe if she could somehow rally her people to her they could put up a much better fight. They were too preoccupied keeping themselves alive with their knives to make their way towards her. Asami loosed a few shots at their assailants. That was risky too. She might hit her own people.

"I really wish we brought a grenade," Bolin yelled over the noise of the gun. 

"We would probably have blown ourselves up," Asami replied. The shelf was still holding. It wasn't crumbling fast enough under the pounding blasts from the gun. Whoever was holding up the wall was a pretty decent bender. When this whole thing blew over, Asami swore she would have a new-found respect for bending. If she was still alive when this entire fiasco ended, Asami reminded herself. A huge jagged piece of ice soared over the shelf, smashing into the sight of the gun. The protective plastic held. The ice spread and solidified on the glass, blocking her view.

“To the left, Asami!”

Asami swung the gun and fired wildly. She heard a body hit the floor. She peeked to the side of the turret. The neohumans were swarming over their cover. Now was as good a time as any. She pressed the trigger down and held it there. She couldn’t hear much else over the metallic clinking of the gun. Abruptly, the machine jerked to a stop. Asami looked down. Now she understood why it was still in experimental phase. The battery was out.

“I have to change batteries. Cover me,” she muttered. Bolin began to earthbend. She wrenched open the battery cover and pulled out the spent cell. She hefted the new one into the machine. One down, two more left.

On her left, several of the Benders were trying to flank her. Bolin drew his knife and slashed wildly at them. Asami switched the machine on. “Bolin, duck!” Bolin turned to see the gleaming black turret pointed at him. He dropped immediately into a crouch. Finger on the trigger, she thought, we can do it.

* * *

Korra emerged on the ground floor. There were bits of resistance left, scattered across the lobby. Bolin and Asami were trapped behind the receptionists’ desk, manning a huge cannon-like gun that even the neohumans were afraid to approach straight on. Bolin was trying to defend her from the bending attacks with his earthbending and his knife. She laid Iroh against the wall and moved forward.

There was a man standing close to the shattered glass doors. He was wearing a cloak and a mask. He saw Korra from across the room just as Korra saw him. It was almost as though he had expected her. He held up two hands and moved.

“Stop,” he said. His steady, amplified voice carried over the fighting.

 “Korra…? Korra?” Bolin yelled, wide-eyed. His hand was around the base of Asami's throat, his knife drifting just a little bit higher, coming to a stop at her throat. Asami stood frozen to the spot. "I can’t--" His jaw locked shut. 

Korra felt the familiar tingling in her veins. Oh, the nerve. “Bloodbending. Where’d you learn that?”

The man walked closer, without fear of the guards who were still alive and fighting. “You’d be surprised at what I find in my research across the years. Unfortunately, my search never found the Avatar, until Mako chanced upon you on the cliff. I admit that I am confused. The Avatar should be from the Earth Kingdom or the Fire Nation. But you are from the Water Tribe.”

“It doesn’t matter. The time of the Avatar is over. We have grown stronger than you will ever be, and tonight I will prove it. I will take you alive.” The neohumans were starting to converge on her, dashing forward like a pack of animals.  Korra looked up. The bright moonlight from the full moon stared down at her through the shattered façade of the ruined Future Industries buildings.

The tingling in her body grew stronger. He was trying, but Korra had amongst her teachers and her enemies some of the most powerful benders to ever walk the earth. She brought her hands up. “How dare you bloodbend me!”

Korra flexed. She felt the familiar rush of power and adrenaline. She _has_ missed this. The freedom of bending as powerfully as she wanted. Like a paused video, every person in the room froze. “You presume too much” she hissed. She strode forward. The crowd of assailants parted around her. “Did you think I wouldn’t find your snipers, hidden outside? There are things about earthbending and metalbending you will never know. Spirits, I hate this mask.” She tore away Amon’s mask. Underneath was a middle-aged brown haired man, his round eyes staring at her in fear.  Without his mask, he was just an everyday criminal. “I could kill you. What do I care?” Korra raised him off his feet. His muscles twitched. She could tell that he was trying to fight it. “I could. You and everybody in this room. It would be over in three minutes. But I won’t. I am a good person, and I am the…” she hesitated. “I am the Avatar.”

Instead, she touched her fingers to his forehead. Her eyes glowed brilliant white as she took away his bending. Bolin fell to the floor and Asami clutched her throat, gasping.

“Bolin, let’s put all these people in stone body casts. The police will sort them out.” Korra began to bend the stone from the floor, encasing each person in stone. “Asami, call for help.”

She looked over at Asami, who rubbed her neck and nervously jumped to obey. Great, Korra thought, just great. One disaster averted, and another mess created.


	15. Chapter 15

Asami slowly unlocked the door and peeked inside. There was no one at home. She slogged over to the couch and collapsed on it. Republic City was still recovering from the aftershocks of the attack. Asami went to court and to the police station, giving statements when asked, and all the while crossing her fingers and biting her tongue. For all his ego, Hiroshi had been quite crafty in hiding their more illegal dealings. No evidence was found of those deals. Hiroshi Sato had been posthumously charged with enabling the revolution and Asami somehow managed to narrowly avoid that for herself by claiming ignorance. By then, the Sato name had been thoroughly dragged through the mud.

All the Benders had been collected by the police from their R&D facility, along with Mako and Tekki. Bolin was in the hospital, D’aili in the morgue. It was a mess. She did have a funeral for Hiroshi Sato, a solitary one on their estate. She had no body and no ashes. Iroh’s body was sent back to the Fire Nation with full distinction and compensation from Future Industries. Asami snorted. As if that would have helped. She was due there in just over a week to attend his funeral.

Asami opened the door slowly. It was vacant. She released a sigh as she set the groceries on the table. She was still too jittery to sleep soundly in her mansion, just down the hall from where Hiroshi had lived. Bolin had offered her his apartment, but she couldn’t stay there either. In the end, she’d come home to this empty house. Asami was pleasantly surprised that Korra never bothered to change the system to deny access to her card and her fingerprint.

She looked around Korra’s apartment. The neohumans had spoken of the Avatar and the video evidence from the security cameras had supported their claim. It was front page on every news site. For every starstruck fan, there was an angry haranguer lamenting the wilful ignorance of law by the so-called Avatar. Dusty tomes were taken from the shelves as the city abruptly remembered that bloodbending was actually illegal. Public debate turned to whether and how the Avatar should be punished for her misdemeanours. All this would have been far more chaotic if Korra had actually been around. She had disappeared without a trace after the incident. Suddenly Korra’s private information seemed like fair game for the tabloid sites. It wouldn’t be long before her address would be released too.

The doorbell rang. Asami hurried to the intercom and pressed the camera button. There was a small group of people outside. “Who’s this?”

Giggles. “We’re looking for Korra.”

“Who?” Asami frowned.

More giggles. “The Avatar. Korra.”

“Wrong house sorry.” Asami terminated the call. Well. The internet does move quickly. This was not a safe situation for her. Sure, this was a penthouse with good security, but eventually, some burglar was going to get lucky. Asami dialled a number on her phone. “Hello? Please send the plane over to my address. I have something that needs picking up.”

She found a big box and carefully placed the radio inside along with the camera.  Hesitantly, she collected the contents in the safe. With a pang, she realised that the photos she had seen previously were missing. She took Korra’s laptop and any other documents lying around and went up to the plane. Asami stuck a note on the empty shelf and sent a message to her phone and email. If Korra comes back, she’ll know where to go. In the meantime, her stuff would be safe from any looters, vandals, thrill-seekers, self-proclaimed fans and worshippers.

Asami boarded the plane. “Future Industries Tower please.” She would have loved to take the beautiful wooden table too, but there was no space. There were always things she had to leave behind.

* * *

 

Asami sat in the driver’s seat of the plane. “You’re qualified to drive this thing?” Bolin asked nervously. He was healing nicely from his physical injuries. Mentally, Asami didn’t know what he thought. They never discussed the event, not even in passing. Asami hadn’t seen Mako since that day, but Bolin might have visited him. She didn’t really want to know.

“Of course,” Asami ran through the pre-flight check. “You got everything?”

Bolin nodded, patting a duffel bag beside him. The plane rose slowly to the sky. Once they were sufficiently high up, Asami switched on the auto-pilot.

“We’ll be there by evening,” she said. “I wanted to book rooms, but the Firelord invited us to stay in her personal residence. I couldn’t refuse.” She handed over a tablet with an email opened on it. “And we’re going to meet her for dinner tonight.”

Bolin blinked. “Oh. Are we…what are we going to _tell_ her?”

“The truth. That Iroh was shot--” she swallowed hard.

“By my brother,” Bolin interrupted quietly. “Yeah.”

“No, I’ll take responsibility for it,” Asami said. It was time she actually owned up to her part in this mess anyway. If she’d just grown a spine sooner, none of this might have happened. “Maybe if I hadn’t dealt with Tekki or if I had stopped my father. Maybe if I had been a little nicer to Mako…”

Bolin didn’t reply. Tomorrow they would be just two of hundreds of people who would be paying respects in the funeral, never mind that most of these people didn’t even know him. It made Asami even sadder to know that. From the small cooler, she took out a bottle of wine and two glasses.

“Do you always keep alcohol everywhere you go?”

“It’s for dates. Usually.”

She poured some for both of them. “He was a good friend,” Asami raised her glass.

“A proper hero,” Bolin chimed in and they drank.

Asami looked at her lap. In a small voice, she said, “It really is my fault he’s dead, isn’t it?”

“Iroh made his own choices,” Bolin replied gravely. “Iroh was the most loyal person I know, and that killed him in the end.” He gave a short bark of laughter. “Not to mention Mako shooting him in the chest. If anybody should be begging for his mother’s forgiveness, it should really be me.”

“Why…how…how was he around the R&D facility at the right time? I could hardly find him in the city after he resigned. He didn’t take my calls or answer any emails.”

“I received the alert,” Bolin said slowly. “And I needed backup. So I called him and asked him to come along and Iroh being the good guys he is, he said yes. Loyalty to me…” He let his voice trail off with a brief glance at Asami. “Guess we’re both to blame.”

* * *

 

Dinner was an awkward affair. The butler led them to their rooms, made sure they settled in properly, and then gave them time to wash up before collecting them for dinner. The dinner was held in a small room with nice round table – not quite what Asami had expected. She and Bolin were early. Asami knew Iroh had an older brother but he didn’t show. The Firelord turned up alone and punctual to the minute. She greeted them warmly and dinner was brought out on simple plastic platters.

Bolin and Asami both sat rigidly in their chairs, staring at their plates. “I’m sorry!” Asami finally burst out. She couldn’t take it anymore. “I’m so sorry!” The Firelord sat composedly in her seat. Only her trembling hands clutching her cutlery betrayed her feelings. She let Asami and then Bolin continued with their tirade of apologies, and then held up her hand to stem the flow.

“When Iroh said he wanted to train at the academy, I tried everything in my power to dissuade him. He was adamant and eventually I relented.” Her voice rose like the rising wind in a storm. “I am unbelievably angry,” her voice softened, “And incredibly sad. Yet his death cannot be changed. So instead I focus on who he was and what he managed to achieve. He saved lives. Yours,” her amber eyes locked onto Asami’s. “And the Avatar’s. I can take some consolation in that. Perhaps if you have some stories to add on this front you might want to share.”

It was Bolin who started talking first. Asami hardly knew Iroh beyond his work. She didn’t have much to say. He talked about training with Iroh in the Academy and wisely left Mako out of the story. Asami watched as the Firelord relaxed, a tiny sad smile forming on the corners of her lips.

* * *

 

Bolin had a point about her alcohol habit. But two occasions should quite rightfully be exceptions – birthdays and funerals. She had made her excuses and ducked out of the residence. She couldn’t stay in there for long. It was too empty and too foreign to make her feel comfortable. The butler had discreetly recommended this nearby watering hole and so, here Asami sat, nursing her drink at the bar.

“Asami?”

“H--hi,” she thought her system couldn’t possibly take anymore shock, but it did when she recognized the voice. Korra was standing right behind her. She was dressed in more traditional water tribe clothing, but otherwise looked the same. “What are you doing here?”

“Same as you. He saved my life,” Korra said grimly. “I need to be here.”

“In this bar?”

 She shrugged. “The butler mentioned it.”

Asami raised her eyebrows. “Are you staying at the palace?”

“Yeah. I’ve been here for some time. Republic City was going crazy and the Firelord is apparently a big supporter of the Avatar,” she exhaled forcefully.

“How did you even board the plane?”

“I don’t need a plane to get here,” Korra replied. She was holding a drink of her own. “Public funeral’s tomorrow. A waste of a good man.”

“It was.” Asami looked down. “He should never have been there. It just…it had nothing to do with him. He should have left.” She should really be grieving for Iroh and be angry at Korra, but she was too drained. There were no more tears left in her, neither could she bring herself to think about her future, or Korra’s sudden revelation for that matter. She was tired of changing the world. If there was somewhere she could just dig and hole and disappear, Asami would gladly huddle in that corner forever. She ordered another drink and clutch at the precious prize with both hands.

“You look tired,” Korra observed.

“A little,” Asami deflected before she tipped her head back and chugged the drink. The burn felt great. She felt two arms encircle her waist, pulling her close. Asami rested against her neck and shoulder, breathed in the familiar scent.

“Iroh is dead, and you lost your father too,” Korra whispered. “Regardless of how he was at the end, you’re allowed to grieve for him too.”

It was uncanny how Korra hit that nail on the head, that piece of carefully hidden grief Asami kept from the world. Asami felt tears well up in her eyes and run down her cheek. Korra held her even tighter and didn’t say anything.

* * *

 

For all their technological advancements, they simply couldn’t invent alcohol without the hangover. Asami groaned as she woke up. A splitting headache tore through her skull. There was a glass of water on the bedside table. Asami snatched it up and took a grateful gulp. Then her memory came back to her and she sat up too quickly and winced.

She was in her room in the palace. Korra was asleep in what must be an incredibly uncomfortable position on the short couch. Her head was on one armrest, her legs sprawled over the other one, and under the knees, but uncomfortably stuck under the mid-thigh. Okay. Asami lifted the covers. She was still dressed, but her shoes were off. Oh spirits. She’d drank too much before the funeral of the man who saved her life and the Avatar had to remove her shoes and put her in bed.

“Korra?”

Korra cracked an eye open. She stretched and fell onto the floor with a loud oomph. “Yes? You made me stay, by the way. I’m not a creep,” she drawled as she remained lying on the floor.

“Um. Thank you.” Sitting up was too much for her. Asami lay back down onto the soft fluffy pillows.

“I’ll just go now,” Korra pushed herself upright. After all she’d heard about the Avatar, it was strange to think of this mighty being just casually stretching and being tired and slouching to the door. She seemed much more relaxed, much more natural.

“No wait.”

“Yeah?”

“You’re the Avatar,” Asami said self-consciously. She still had a whole list of questions and she was determined to get answers, hangover or not. She took another big gulp of water.

“Yes, I am,” Korra fiddled with her fingers.

“But the show on Avatar Day—”

“Are quite inaccurate. There certainly were no dragons involved.”

“Okay. And that was your secret?”

Korra took a deep breath. “I try not to be the Avatar anymore. But, the problem is I get these urges to bend. Bend, as in, to really bend. Not just play with rocks or water in the shower.” She waved her hands about. “The forms, the energy, it’s incredible. I tried, but I really couldn’t stay away. And it is the only connection I have with my past.”

“Your past?”

“Okay. This is going to be creepy. I’m not actually 23. I’m something like, 200+? I stopped counting after awhile. I can’t die.”

Asami’s jaw dropped. “Oh spirits. So you could be like, ten times my age?”

“Possibly, kinda yeah.”

“Isn’t that a little…odd?”

“Now that you’ve put it like that. I would just like to say: I’ve never taken any sort of advantage of you, have I?”

“Nope.”

“Makes it a little more okay then,” Korra shrugged. “There. It’s out of the bag. And I wanted, I needed to bend and to meditate and to be myself at least for awhile because it’s the only way I deal with keeping such a big part of who I am a secret.” Korra took a deep breath.

“I understand that,” Asami said. “Keeping secrets sucks. And so those pictures…”

“Never cheated,” Korra responded. “But you wouldn’t want to know how long ago those were.”

“I don’t. But where exactly then was our relationship headed then?” Korra looked shamefully at the floor and mumbled something. “What?”

“I said, I wanted to carry on for a couple of years and then somehow break it off—”

“Bitch!” Asami winced as her head pounded at the sound of her own voice.

“Wait!” Korra interrupted her. “I don’t know. I just—the trouble with being immortal is that things just seem so insignificant. And that’s what I thought, until the shit hit the fan. Suddenly…I just…first there was you, and then Iroh’s death. Really reminded me about being human. I care about you so much,” her eyes stared pleadingly at Asami. “I wouldn’t have gotten so angry if I didn’t. I was actually, genuinely afraid you’d find out the truth and we’d be toast.”

“And…we’re toast anyway,” Asami said quietly. “Why couldn’t you just have told me?”

“Asami, I am the Avatar. I am a powerful bender and I’ve gotten better over the decades. I could level Republic City in a day or two.” Asami remembered Korra bloodbending the entire crowd of neohumans and take away someone’s bending. “And with all the myths…I want to be normal. Only a handful of people know. There is a man from long line of airbending masters in the northern air temple who help me manage my…financial and psychological issues. It’s a family thing for them. First born of first born gets sworn to secrecy. Mako might have seen him.”

“But hiding the Avatar…I know people who would have loved that power. My f—Hiroshi would have killed to get that.” It was so hard just to grasp that it was all real. It was a legend come to life, and Asami didn’t quite know what to say or how to feel about that.

“I don’t want to live my life being responsible for the world forever. I have a short temper too—”

“Really? I didn’t really think so.”

“I do. And I’m particularly bad at diplomacy. If I’d stayed long enough, I think I’d eventually get too impatient or crazy and styled myself as the queen of the world. I thought it would be best if that didn’t happen.”

“You’re wiser than many people.”

“I should hope so. I’ve had a lot of practice.” In the ensuing silence, Korra just stared around the room at anything except Asami.

“What will you do now? Your picture is all over Republic City.”

“I’ll leave. Go somewhere far away. Eventually, everybody forgets.”

“I have your things,” Asami said. “Do come and collect them one day.”

“I will,” Korra paused, hand on the doorknob. “What did you think of me?” she asked. “Before this whole Avatar thing blew up?”

“I loved you,” Asami answered.


	16. Chapter 16

Asami slumped down on her table. The lights of the city decorated the navy blue sky. The sun had set several hours ago, and yet, here she was, still stuck in the office. She really shouldn’t complain though, Asami thought as she steeled herself to read another audit report. Many people in her staff were pulling overtime too as a result of the massive fall-out of the almost-revolution. She was the interim CEO until they could presumably rally to select another candidate.

She’d spent the past week vetting deals -- trying to cut out the illegal ones and making sure their products didn’t suffer too badly. She’d disbanded Mako’s old teams and redid the R&D facility. Basically, she was trying to undo every bad decision she had made. Tomorrow she had to meet their partners and big clients to try and persuade them to stay with the company. She massaged her temple. Being charming was the last thing she wanted to do right now.

The work also functioned to keep her mind away from other matters of the heart.

There was a beeping sound from her computer. Asami checked her watch. That’s right, she had a brief meeting with her Vice President about the finances. Asami went to the bathroom. The neat thing about her father’s old office was that it had an en-suite bathroom and a comfortable couch in the corner. She’d slept here on several occasions, often enough that she had a pillow, blanket and a suitcase of clothes stored under the couch. Asami splashed some water over her face and re-applied her make-up. She brushed her hair behind her ear and tried to look presentable.

Asami returned to her desk, sitting up straight. She logged in to the video call program. “Hello? How is everyone?” She tried to sound confident as she chaired the meeting filled with experienced professionals. Hiroshi had prepared her to lead Future Industries. She just hadn’t expected to do this so soon. That was another source of stress. She felt the ghost of the brilliant tactician looking over her shoulder, scrutinizing every move she made.  

By the time the meeting was over, the sky had turned cobalt blue. Asami had resigned herself to another night at the office. She stared wistfully at the faraway lights. This time last year, she was having a blast. She was rich as sin with not a single care in the world, content with partying the night away and then showing up for work in the morning. She’d worked hard, but certainly not as hard as this. It’s been three months since her father died. Asami opened up the quarterly graphs on her computer. Future Industries was on the climb back up. Public confidence was rising, as was their sales. Most of the staff had surprisingly stayed with Future Industries, even the senior management, who had actually helpfully supported her job without condescension. It appeared that Hiroshi had garnered quite a bit of loyalty despite his misguided views. Then why did she still constantly felt like she was on the brink of failing? She had developed a habit of looking over her shoulder and checking locks twice. She still had a panic button, but she hoped to never use it ever again. The alert went to Bolin, the only person she trusted in the city. He had insisted on the precaution despite quitting Future Industries after Iroh’s funeral. Asami gripped at the white mug on her table. When would she finally feel normal? In six months? A year?

Asami wanted her innocence back.

Outside, the weather was turning chilly. Soon winter would be here. Asami imagined spending the winter in this office alone and shuddered. She grabbed a banana from a stash of food in her drawer. It was way past midnight and there was still so much to do. She had stopped being productive around midnight and was doing the more enjoyable parts of her work, like looking over specs and marvelling at the new products. She should go to sleep early and wake up early do continue to more tedious portions tomorrow.

Asami showered, ate a light supper, washed up and then went to the wall safe. She typed in the code and put her finger on the finger pad. It swung open and she gently carried the radio out and put it on her table. She plugged it in and pressed one of the buttons. She finished the rest of her drink in three huge swallows. Then, she stretched out on the couch.

Asami listened to the commentary of a sport from a bygone era. It must have been spectacular, she thought wistfully. She had searched the internet for a description of what it was like, but nothing beats hearing the sounds from this radio. She imagined the crowd going wild as one player fell off the side and into the deep water below. It was a piece of history, both hers and Korra’s. This was her routine. She would listen until she fell asleep, with the help of the radio and other intoxicants.

There was a loud knock on the window pane. Convinced that it was just an unfortunate bird, she carried on listening to the radio. The single rap was followed by a series of insistent knocks. Surely no bird was that stupid. Asami turned around.

“Holy crap!” There was a human hanging outside her window. She grabbed her taser and slowly approached the shadow. Korra waved from the outside. Asami dropped her weapon and pressed a button to raise the window.

Hi,” Korra said and tumbled in. After so many weeks of not seeing her, Asami could hardly believe her eyes. She looked over at the steep drop. “Good thing you’re not afraid of heights.”

“Very good thing,” she dusted herself off. “I’m here for my stuff.” Korra opened a huge pack. She looked good. Korra was dressed in nondescript jeans and shirt, a long instrument in hand. Healthy and perhaps happier than she had been, Asami thought.

“What’s that?”

“My glider. Used to be made from wood, but plastic works much better now.” Korra pulled it open the wings. Asami ran her fingers over the ridges.

“You’re in the Republic City?”

“I’ve been around for awhile.”

Asami knew it was supposed to be a secret, but she asked anyway. “Where have you been living? The last I heard a bunch of vandals got into your apartment and took most of your stuff away.”

“Yeah I haven’t been home. Lived with Bolin for a little while. Now I’m staying somewhere a little more secretive.”

“Where?”

Korra grinned. “On top of the tallest building in the city.”

Asami’s jaw dropped. “You’ve been living on my _roof_?”

“It’s rent-free.” Korra shrugged. “And public showers are good enough. You’re not mad?”

“No, no. I’m not mad.” Asami could scarcely believe she was having another conversation with Korra. She had mixed feelings about it. She hoped that Korra would eventually come for her things, but she also dreaded that day. It meant that there would be no more possibility of seeing Korra and no radio to lull her to sleep. 

“I’m forgiven?” Korra clarified, fidgeting with the strap on her shoulder. “For everything?”

“There was nothing to forgive,” Asami replied guiltily. “It was my fault too.”

“You’ve been listening to my radio?” Korra broke the awkward silence.

“Well yes. But only to check that it was still working. Wouldn’t want anything to break in my care,” Asami laughed nervously. She gestured to a large wall safe. “It’s all in here.” She passed the machines one by one to Korra, and then the letters and documents.

“The photos…you have them with you?”

“No,” Korra said. “They were in the car. I jumped over the side to…get you and the car went down with the bridge.” She spoke very evenly. It was clear she didn’t hold Asami responsible for the loss of the photos or, perhaps, she had put that behind her. Asami wondered if one day she could be equally selfless and forgiving.

“I’m sorry.”

“I know.”

 “Where are you going?”

“Probably the Southern Water tribe. Back to where I was born. I’ve got enough to live on for a long, long time,” Korra slung her pack over her shoulder.

“Right,” Asami murmured, crossing her arms. This was the end then.

“You’ve lost weight,” Korra said suddenly.

“Yeah. Stress, I guess,” Asami ran her fingers through her hair. “Everything went downhill fast, and now I’m trying to pick it back up.”

 

Korra arched an eyebrow. She picked up the cup on Asami’s table and sniffed it. The pungent fumes would have been obvious to anyone. “Strong. Nightcap?”

“Yeah.” Asami just watched Korra, waiting for her to make the first move to say goodbye and walk out of her life. On the contrary, Korra took two quick steps forward, putting herself squarely in Asami’s personal space.

“Come with me,” Korra blurted out.

It took her addled brain a moment to process the request. “Huh?”

“Come with me to the Southern Water tribe. Leave the city. Leave Future Industries. You like cars. It’s the only thing you like about Future Industries. Come with me to the south. You can do what you like there. You start your own business -- cars and snowmobiles and iceskimmers. It’ll be interesting. It’ll be awesome.”

“I can’t just…leave!” Asami protested.

“Yes you can. Get one of the senior directors to run this show. They know how it’s done. Come to the south and get a fresh start.” Korra was really getting into the flow of her argument. “Money’s not a problem. You’re rich. You can buy a house and everything you need there. Hell, _I’m_ rich. I’ll buy you a bloody palace if you want.”

“Wh—why?”

“You know my secret and,” Korra took a deep breath. “It’ll be nice not to have to hide from everyone all the time.”

“And us?” Asami asked softly.

“Housemates? For starters, you keep me sane and normal and I’ll keep you sane and non-alcoholic,” Korra said.

Asami sank down in her chair and considered it. She didn’t know how long she sat there, just thinking and weighing her options. Korra remained motionless, waiting for a reply, as though she had all the patience in the world. She gazed out of the window. What was there left for her in Republic City? 

“Give me a month,” Asami said eventually. “I’ll go with you.”

* * *

 

“This is home,” Korra said as they circled the city in Asami’s plane. “That used to be my parents’ house.” She pointed at a massive structure at the other end of the city. Below, Asami could see the city.

“It’s huge,” Asami commented.

“It _is_ a palace. I was the Chief’s daughter,” she shrugged.

“I thought you were kidding!”

“Now you know,” she said as the plane banked again and began its descent.

“What’s that?”

“Race track,” Korra stated, pointing at the blurs of light going around an oval track. “You’re gonna love it here.” They landed in an airfield outside of the city. It was way colder than Asami had ever imagined. She was wearing a special thermal inner layer designed to insulate and generate heat, and still she felt the chill. Korra pulled a scarf high over her nose and the hood low over her face. “How do I look?”

“Unrecognizable,” Asami smiled. Korra went out and rented them a snowmobile and they rode a short distance to their new home. Their belongings would follow in the next transport.

Asami dumped her bag on the floor. The house had been furnished and prepared in advance. They stocked the fridge and set up the electricity and water. Thankfully, the heater was also fully functional. The house was a small place on the outskirts, perhaps only as big as Korra’s old apartment but with plenty of surrounding land that belonged to them. Korra had been very grateful when she suggested that. She began to peel layers of jackets off as the house grew warmer. Through the window, she could see the twinkling lights of the city. It’s strange that she had never been here before.

Next to the house was a huge garage, her promised workspace. She would need to get that stocked with tools as soon as possible. Asami grinned. She couldn’t wait to see what vehicles she could think up with terrain like this. Quitting Future Industries might have been for the best in the end. The directors were surprised, but none of them argued with her decision. She was, after all, still the owner of the company.

Korra came in a moment behind her, dusting her boots on the mat. She pushed her scarf down, revealing two pink-tinged cheeks. It was hard to think of her as the Avatar. More than once, Asami had caught herself staring. “Like it?”

“Not bad,” Asami said. “Almost up to standard.”

“Pssh. Your standards are impossibly high.”

“You know, sometimes I can’t believe you really are the Avatar,” Asami said. “It’s like a dragon just appeared and asked to be my friend. It’s so…unbelievable.”

“Dragons huh?” Kora snorted. “That’s the first time I’ve heard that particular comparison. I am the Avatar, but I’m also Korra. Don’t forget that.”

Asami shrugged and grinned. “I’ll try and make that work. Once I wrap my puny mortal mind around that fact.”

Korra laughed. “If you can. The transport is due to come in the next fifteen minutes. Do keep an eye out for them. We can move the plane here tomorrow too.” Spirits, this just felt so _comfortable_. Asami felt her smile widen as her eyes followed Korra around the room and into the kitchen. “In the meantime, I’ll make dinner. You just can’t be trusted to follow a recipe.”

 “I’ll do the dishes,” she volunteered.  

“Do we look like bear pigs? They’ve seriously bought _everything_ for us.” Korra called incredulously from the kitchen. “What would you like to eat?”

“Sashimi,” Asami said softly. “Sashimi sounds good right now.” This was a good idea, Asami thought as she took a deep breath, she could feel it. It was the best decision she’d made in her life. This was exactly what she needed -- a fresh start and a new beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for sticking with the story! Love you comments and thanks for the kudos! It has really encouraged me to finish this . I'm a little undecided if I want to write an epilogue for the story though. I also have a blog if anyone is interested (bluebaydeathmetaljukebox.blogspot.com) and I've posted some original stuff (only 2 I think) It's a work in progress!


	17. Epilogue

_NOW._

“Are you alright?” Asami said as she sipped the soup. They were at home for one of their rare dinners together. Asami had cooked. Somewhere in those seven years, she’d learnt to put together a decent meal. In fact, she was rather proud of her achievement. In her opinion, there was no finer dinner in the Southern city.

“It’s a little warm,” Korra said. “Need to use the bathroom.”

“Sure. I’ll clear up.” Asami gathered the up the plates and dashed into the kitchen. She had aged, Asami reflected as she stared at the mirror in the hallway. The years had taken their toll on her.

* * *

_SEVEN YEARS AGO._

This was awkward.

No matter how much practice she got, Asami never got the hang of defusing awkward situations. “Pass the stew?” Asami asked. Korra dutifully pushed over the pot of stew. She could tell Asami was dying for a drink, but all she’d bought was fruit juice.

It had been a whole year since the almost-revolution and Asami had recovered enough from the events in Republic City to begin dating again. In a small city like this, the news immediately hit front page news. A few weeks later, she finally brought the man home.

“Here, let me help.” The suave young man beside Asami picked up her bowl and ladle hot liquid into it. He was tall, good-looking and polite. Asami frowned as Korra viciously speared some seafood and dropped it in her plate. “So, Senna what do you do again?”

“I work in construction,” Korra said. Months had passed and people had forgotten what she looked like, and she’d adopted her mother’s name to complete her subterfuge. It worked like a charm.

“Cool,” he replied, grinning at her from across the table.

Korra really hadn’t wanted to be the third wheel in this dinner, but Asami had insisted on getting her seal of approval. For some reason, her opinion was important to Asami. She reasoned that it was because Korra was one of the few close friends she had left.

Later, when Asami asked Korra for her opinion while brushing her teeth in the bathroom, Korra had just shrugged and said “he seems nice.”

They broke up after three months in a very loud and rough shouting match all over the house. There were no more dates after that.

* * *

_FIVE YEARS AGO._

Asami hit the ground running. Future Industries had regained pole position in Republic City. Asami got to know important people in the Southern city by virtue of her family name, and in time, started designing limited edition luxury cars. She reasoned that wouldn’t be in direct competition with Future Industries. After two years of hard work designing and securing partnerships for parts and manufacturing, the cars were finally ready to be launched. Asami was so proud she brought Korra out for dinner.

“I have something to tell you,” they both said simultaneously as they sat around a posh table in the downtown restaurant.

“You first,” Asami said, startled.

“I think I want to come out.”

“Come out?” Asami frowned. “To who?”

“No I mean, I want to tell the world I am the Avatar,” Korra said nervously. “I want to help. A long time ago, there used to be an organization called the White Lotus. They helped the Avatar and I would like to start that up again.”

“Oh,” Asami responded. “Okay?”

“Will you come with me to the studio tomorrow? I’m a little afraid. First public appearance in a long time,” Korra said with an uneasy smile.

“Of course,” Asami agreed brightly. “Anything you need. I can proofread your speech too.”

“Thank you. And what was it you wanted to say?”

“Nothing,” Asami shook her head. “Business is doing well.”

* * *

 Life changed.

Paparazzi began camping at their door. Asami herself came under scrutiny, but it wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle. Then, she met a cute girl at work. The tabloids wouldn’t shut up about their living arrangement, so Asami got a girlfriend. That gave her some respite.

Years passed. Korra was flying all over the world, settling disputes and providing aid with the White Lotus. The world hadn’t changed to accommodate her. Instead, Korra had worked on changing the world. She proved the Avatar and her wisdom were still valuable assets. On weekends, she gave bending classes. People gathered from all over the world to learn from her. She’d come home to see several old and middle-aged people nodding reverently at Korra’s every word as she demonstrated a form. It was a strange sight. For all her fame, Korra continued to call their humble abode home. Korra was still the same person to her, but it was odd to see her turn from a hermit to a respectable public figure overnight. Asami didn’t know how she felt about it. On one hand, she was glad Korra was happy and the reactions had been mostly positive. On the other hand, she felt like some of their precious connection had been lost.

They weren’t often both home, but when they were, it was always cause for celebration. Asami would take Korra out for dinner, or they would order take-out and watch an old movie together. More frequently, she’d be alone at home wishing Korra was around. Once, they had discreetly flown back to Republic City on Avatar Day in Asami’s plane just to see the celebrations. Korra had let slip that somebody had actually gotten something right. Avatar Day was indeed her birthday. From then on, every Avatar Day was treated as a proper occasion.

Asami moved into designing private planes. She felt much better about that since that put her away from direct competition with Future Industries. Planes were also much faster and much more complicated. She could no longer work from the garage, but instead rented a warehouse and brought in some talent to learn from. Along the way, her girlfriend understandably broke up with her. Hiroshi had been a workaholic and Asami followed in his footsteps.

Asami hated the cold and the windy days. She hated shovelling snow and the lack of spring and autumn colours in the city. She missed the food and the vibrancy of Republic City, the elegant highways and the nightlife. And yet, year after year, Asami Sato continued to stay in the South.

She simply couldn’t pinpoint why.

* * *

  _NOW_

This was frightening.

Korra clutched the sink with both hands. Going against every instinct Korra had, she’d genuinely thought they would just be housemates seven years ago. She’d known she liked Asami in Republic City, but here, it was different. Asami was more carefree here, more happy and more passionate. It brought out every good quality she had, and Asami Sato was not short on those. It reminded Korra of everything loved about being alive.

Her growing attraction might have been swept under the rug if it weren’t for Asami’s boyfriend, a rather vulgar blessing in disguise. She hadn’t meant to listen in. She had just kept her headphones off to make sure Asami wasn’t getting physically hurt in the rather rowdy argument. He had rather loudly expressed his jealousy over their relationship and proceeded to angrily list every instance Asami had prioritised Korra over him. It was then that Korra had an inkling that Asami might feel the same way. It was later confirmed by small things Korra had previously been oblivious to -- Asami’s inability to stay away from Korra at public functions and Korra’s ability to render her speechless by casual flirting. Korra seized her chance with both hands.

The obvious obstacle was letting the cat out of the bag. So with Asami’s support, Korra had told the world. Then, Asami spoilt everything by getting herself a girlfriend. It was unbelievable. This one even seemed nice and decent. Korra gritted her teeth through every dinner with the girl and the subsequent lascivious noises that inevitably disrupted her serenity from the neighbouring room. It made her want to bang her head against the metal door and fantasize about kicking the girl out of the house. Nonetheless, being alive for centuries had the positive effect of increasing her patience. If she could wait days, then she could wait months. If she could wait months, she could wait years. After all, what was time to her? Korra stuck it out. She waited for years in emotional agony and suspense, leaving the country when it became too much for her.

As the years passed, she came to realise one thing. Asami was it for her. She had never felt this way about anyone else in her long, long life.

* * *

 Asami quickly took a small cake out of the fridge and placed it on the table. She undid the box and lit a single candle in the middle as the bathroom door opened.

“Happy birthday,” she smiled. A grin blossomed on Korra’s face. She enveloped Korra in a big hug and gave her a kiss on the cheek. 

“Wow,” Korra cut the cake into half, offering Asami her slice.

“You seem quiet,” Asami said as she licked the chocolate off her spoon. “Food not up to standard?” she teased. She placed another box on the dining table. “Or did you think I forgot your birthday?”

Korra put her plate down. “Asami,” she said seriously, “Would you like to go out with me?”

“Go out?” Asami blinked. Of course she’d thought it. It was impossible not to when they’d been living the last seven years together, and if anything, Korra had become even more attractive. Asami was of the opinion that everybody was at least a little bit in love with her. It was impossible not to be. But given how their last relationship had ended, Asami had brushed all those thoughts away.

“Like…on a date? You’re not seeing anyone, are you?”

“I’m not,” Asami confirmed hesitantly. Their relationship was both really beyond the point of dating. The only question that remained was whether there was there was any other option worth exploring. Asami didn’t think she could handle the repercussions.

“You’re not into me?” Korra guessed nervously.

Asami choked. “That is also not the issue. Not at all. I just don’t want to destroy our friendship when we break up. I don’t think I could handle it.”

“We won’t,” Korra said. “I don’t intend to.”

“But how…what…I don’t get it,” she said finally. “What happened to your kiss-and-run thing? Because if that’s still the plan, my answer is--”

“The world knows that I’m the Avatar,” Korra explained. “I don’t have to do that anymore. We can be as public as we like. You already know I’m immortal. It’s maybe going to seem wrong to everyone else, but I don’t care. I’m in it for the long run.”

“Korra,” Asami replied evenly, trying to control the sudden thumping of her heart. “I will get old. _Old_ old. Wrinkles-and-saggy-skin old.”

“So what? I’ve seen old, believe me. I know what time does to people. I’m not dating you just for your looks. There are probably other people who look better—”

“Not helping,” Asami interjected.

“Yes right. At the end of the day you’re who I choose to come home to,” Korra said anxiously. “Let’s try again. Asami?”

Asami let Korra stew for a long moment. It was impossible for her to say no. So it might be a risk. Korra could leave anytime she wanted or swap her out for a younger, prettier girl, but, as Hiroshi used to say, no risk, no reward.

“Yes,” Asami said, cocking her head. “Yes. Even if it isn’t forever, I think I could live with that.”

* * *

 Korra let out the breath she didn’t know she was holding as she gave Asami a wide smile. She pressed a gentle kiss to Asami’s lips. Her arms wrapped softly around Asami’s slim waist. Would it be too cheesy to promise her forever out loud? It was a euphoric moment as she felt the soft ruby-red lips slide against her own. If she had any doubts about Asami’s feelings, they were quickly subdued by the fervour with which Asami responded to her kiss. Asami moved hotly against her. She ravished Korra’s lips, earning a soft moan from the Avatar.

“I love you,” Asami muttered as her lips caressed Korra’s jaw. She had slowed down, moving lovingly against Korra’s soft skin.

“I love you too.” Korra had been dreaming about this moment for years. This was the start of the end.

She was a relic of the past, in some ways a misfit in this world. It was her own selfish reasons that kept her hanging around.  Her accidental immortality and her power as the Avatar had given her one blessing -- she would always be in control. Death was a choice, not an eventuality. The White Lotus had been explicitly created to help her and to help the world, but there was another reason for their conception, one which she knew Asami would object violently against. She was long overdue to pass the baton on and she needed to make sure the next Avatar had as much help as he could get.

Because when Asami passes, sixty or seventy long and happy years from now, Korra would leave too. She planned to follow Asami into the grave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have such conflicted thoughts about this epilogue. Couldn't decide if I wanted a happy or sad one so...a little of both?

**Author's Note:**

> I have...absolutely no idea where I'm going with this. Just wrote it for fun, might or might not continue the fic. I feel like I've written too much Good Girl-Badass Asami, so it's nice to write a more snobbish and controlling version of her. As usual, comments are most welcomed!


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